At about the age of seventeen a childless maternal relative adopted him, changing his family name to Soong, and took him to Boston, Massachusetts where he owned a tea and silk shop.

After working as an apprentice in the shop for a time, Soong ran away and signed up as a cabin boy in the U.S. Revenue Marine (the forerunner of the U.S. Coast Guard) on board the USS Albert Gallatin under the command of Captain Eric Gabrielson.

Thomas Ricaud, began making preparations to train and educate Soong for the purpose of sending him back to China to work as a Christian missionary.

In the late 1880s, Charlie had begun to tire of the mission and felt that he could do more for his people if he was not bound to the restrictions and methods that came with working for the church.

Around this time, Charlie had secretly been initiated into Shanghai, Shenzhen and Canton's thriving revolutionary movement, more specifically an organization that went by the name of Hung P'ang, or the Red gang.

[7] In 1894, Charlie Soong made the arguably most important connection in his life when he met Sun Yat-sen at a Sunday service in a Methodist church in Shanghai.

The two men were kindred spirits of sorts, sharing their Western education, Hakka ancestry, the Christian faith and a burning ambition and craving for change in China.

In the coming years, Charlie Soong funded Sun Yat-sen's travels in search of support and major financial backing.

[8] In the years leading up to the revolution in 1911, Charlie Soong started a family in Shanghai with his wife from there Ni Kwei-Tseng (倪桂珍 Ní Guìzhēn).

[11] While in Tokyo, Soong Ai-ling had married H. H. Kung, a wealthy banker (and 75th generation descendant of Confucius), and it was no longer suitable for her to work as Sun Yat-sen's secretary.

The relationship between Ching-ling and Sun soon turned romantic, and when Charlie Soong moved his family back to Shanghai in 1916, they secretly kept in touch.