Ep. 130 | Morris ‘Two-Gun’ Cohen (Part 1)

The China History Podcast
Written By Laszlo Montgomery

Today I wanted to introduce a sort of lovable rogue who haunted the hotel lobbies of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, London, and Edmonton. Today’s subject was by no means a historic figure. In fact, I don’t think you can even call him a bit player.

Nonetheless, Morris Abraham Cohen had a China story that deserves a telling. Today’s episode will look at his early life, how he ended up in Canada and how he got hooked up with the local Chinese Canadians.  We’ll get as far as the death of Sun Yat-sen in early 1925.  We’ll finish up next time with Morris Cohen’s life after Dr. Sun.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/TermChineseEnglish/Meaning
Fuguan副官Body guard, aide-de-camp
Guo Fu国父Father of the Country, Sun Yat-sen
Ma Kun马坤Morris Cohen’s Chinese name
Puyi溥仪Last Emperor of the Qing dyansty
Song Qingling宋庆龄Madame Sun Yat-sen, Soong Ch’ing-ling
Tongmenghui同盟会Sun’s Political Party, later became KMT

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Ep. 131 | Morris ‘Two-Gun’ Cohen (Part 2)
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Ep. 129 | The Incident at Xuanwu Gate