Sun Mei left China for Hawaii in pursuit of economic opportunity in 1871, aged 17.

When Sun returned to China to look for a bride, he recruited over a hundred laborers to go with him to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane plantations.

Money raised from overseas Chinese in Hawaii, including Sun Mei, was the main source of funding for the first Canton Uprising in 1894.

[7] Sun Mei eventually sold all of his properties and businesses in part to support his brother's revolution, and in part due to pressure caused by the new Hawaii Land Lease Ordinance of 1904.

[8] While there is no concrete record of Sun Mei's donations, the amount has been contended to have been around $700,000 total.