Song was born in Sichuan (formerly romanized as Szechwan) in 1890, a mentee of James Stewart and baptised by Reg Taylor in 1916 after family hostility to his conversion had died down.

[1] He attended West China Union University in 1917, where he majored in English language and literature.

[3] He was also a visiting professor in Religious Studies at West China Union University.

He was also invited by Archbishop Mowll to visit Australia, where he spoke at civic events, universities, and theological colleges.

As an example of ecumenism, he collaborated with Roman Catholic scholars in translating some works by Church Fathers into Chinese.