偉大的民主革命先行者孫中山,出身華僑家庭,父親孫達成早年在澳門當鞋匠,叔父孫觀成則是病故海外的華工。孫中山十二歲就出國到檀香山,投靠經營畜牧業發家的長兄孫眉,是在海外讀書成長的。他久居海外,深悉僑情,‘凡我僑胞直接間接所受政治上之痛苦,罔不洞知’。長期的海外流亡生活和多次策劃武裝起義的革命實踐,使他對廣大愛國華僑懷有深厚的感情。他不僅體恤華僑的艱難處境,而且更深切地體會到華僑與祖國革命和建設的不可分離的關係,始終把華僑作為中國革命和建設的主要依靠力量之一。他說:‘華僑是革命之母。’这與清朝統治者把華僑一概視為‘海贼’、‘莠民’,有着天淵之別。 Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the great democratic revolution, came from an overseas Chinese family. His father, Sun Da-cheng, was a shoemaker in Macao in his early years. His uncle, Sun Guancheng, was a Chinese laborer who died overseas. At the age of twelve, Sun Yat-sen went abroad to Honolulu and retired to Sun Mei, the elder brother who runs a livestock husbandry business. He grew up studying in overseas countries. He lived overseas for a long time and was deeply acquainted with overseas Chinese affairs. “All my compatriots directly and indirectly suffered from political pain. Long-term overseas exile and repeated planning of armed revolutionary uprisings have given him deep feelings towards the vast number of overseas Chinese who are patriotic. He not only sympathized with the difficult situation of the overseas Chinese, but also realized more deeply the inseparable relationship between the overseas Chinese and the revolution and construction in the motherland and always regarded the overseas Chinese as one of the main strength to rely on for the Chinese revolution and construction. He said: ”Overseas Chinese are the mother of revolution. This is the same as the Qing rulers regard the overseas Chinese as ’pirates’, ’common people’, there is a world of difference.