Gathering and discussing politics with his revolutionary friends was certainly one of the most memorable, and consequential, experiences of Mr. Sun during his five years of medical study. Well known was the habit of the "Four Bandits" — Sun Yat-sen, Yau Lit, Yeung Hok-ling and Chan Siu-bak — in talking over current affairs at "Yeung Yiu Kee", a shop at 8 Gough Street. Yeung Yiu Kee was later referred to as the "first clubhouse of the revolutionary". It belonged to Yeung Hok-ling's family, and the back of it was the regular meeting place of the "Four Bandits" and other friends like Lu Hao-tung, Cheng Si-leung and Kwan King-leung, who lived in the College's dormitory as Mr. Sun. Unanimously they thought highly of the Taiping Rebellion, and so they called themselves "bandits" as did Hong Xiuquan, the founder of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, decades ago. Mr. Sun in those days would have been what we now called an "angry youth": he produced homemade bombs, wrapped them with foot-binding cloth, and threw them out on the street. It alarmed the police so much that they came especially for investigation.

So it was a bit of a surprise that these cynic youth who used to daydream at the back of a small shop would become the bona fide revolutionary leaders. Yeung Hok-ling, in particular, was crucial in his fund-raising capacity as his family was inside the business network. After the revolution, however, Yeung's family declined, and although he followed Mr. Sun to the revolutionary government he ended up mediocre late in life, having failed to show himself capable of more important role. This time Mr. Sun can take a trip down memory lane and look back on his salad days. He will leave behind all the power struggles and money games that troubled him with the success of the revolution.