Photograph of the Soong sisters in 1940, taken by Lyon [Photo/ english.gaurdian.com]

American Hyland Lyon took many invaluable photographs due to his special position and experience in China. The photos have been sealed for more than 80 years and will appear at the China Guardian 2015 Spring Auctions.

Hyland Lyon had a wide range of contacts with Chinese rulers and concession authorities during the period of the Republic of China. He piloted a private plane for Chang Hsueh-liang, who was the effective ruler of northeast China, and worked for the Associated Press as a press photographer at the same time.

In 1940, The Soong sisters asked Lyon to take photos of the three of them after Soong Mei-ling finished seeing a doctor in Hong Kong and went back to Chongqing. Moreover, to avoid the bad blood between Soong Chinng Ling and Chiang Kai-shek interfere with what was good for the nation, they showed up together to encourage the national forces under fire. That was a short time of harmony among the three sisters during the long-year war recorded by Lyon’s lens.