San's Story

On June 15, 1924, San Lian Yeh was born in Zhejiang, a province on the eastern coast of China. He grew up as the youngest of four brothers and three sisters in a large middle-class family. As a teenager, San personally experienced two hugely definitive world events — the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the subsequent outbreak of the Second World War. Through the majority of the war, San worked as a middle school teacher, mentoring young students who had been torn from their families during the conflict. When Japanese forces advanced on his home town in 1944, he and several other teachers guided a group of their students through the mountains to escape. After safely delivering the children to the Chinese national forces in Shanghai, he joined the Nationalist army under the command of Chiang Kai-Shek and continued to fight the Japanese until the end of the war.

In 1948, he met his wife Hong Chun. A year later, following the Communist takeover of the Chinese government, San followed Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalist government to Taipei, Taiwan, where he and his wife stayed for thirty-three years and raised four children, a son named William and three daughters, Lin, Li, and Joy. During this time, San enjoyed a fulfilling military career working for the Taiwanese national security department.

San and Hong moved to California in 1982 to be closer to their four grown children, who had all emigrated to the U.S. by that time. They settled in Los Angeles, where San worked part-time at a convenience store, a job that suited his friendly, easy-going personality. San and Hong moved again in 1989 to Richmond, Virginia, to be closer to his youngest daughter Joy, her husband Terry, and their new baby daughter Christina. They even became neighbors for several years, living only three houses apart from each other. As a result, San and Hong played an integral part in raising their granddaughter.

San was diagnosed with an advanced form of prostate cancer in 1997. He bravely endured exhaustive radiation treatments for two years, but ultimately lost his battle to cancer on June 29, 1999 at the age of 75. Although his life ended too soon, he left behind a great legacy of bravery, humility, and incredible generosity which deeply touched the lives of his family and friends. It is those admirable traits that inspired the creation of this organization, so that his unique spirit will never be forgotten.

Past Winners

Since we established the San Yeh Charity Foundation in 2009, we've awarded numerous scholarships each year to high school and college/university students who have carried San's legacy on in their everyday lives. We're immensely proud to have supported these past scholarship recipients in their academic endeavors. If you'd like to add your name to this list, please consider applying for this year's scholarship.