The granddaughter of modern China's founder, Sun Yat-sen, is reportedly regaining consciousness after being severely injured in a car accident near Taipei on Saturday morning.

Nora Sun received wishes for a speedy recovery from Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou, who asked senior Taiwan government official Liao Liou-yi to get firsthand updates on her status from the hospital.

Nora Sun,  granddaughter of modern China's founder, Sun Yat-sen

The 72-year-old, who sustained multiple severe injuries, has been regaining consciousness and responsiveness, while her head trauma has been alleviating, Chinataiwan.org reported, citing a physician from the hospital's trauma department.

However, Sun's kidney functions might be permanently damaged, the physician said.

She is presently in the intensive care unit at the city's Shin Kong Memorial Hospital after undergoing an eight-hour emergency surgery.

Doctors said she is still in danger and will require close medical attention for three more days.

Her youngest son had arrived to visit from Hong Kong.

Nora, a former Chinese American diplomat, was heading to the Taoyuan International Airport to return to Hong Kong after concluding her visit to the International Flora Expo in Taipei. Her black car collided head-on with a red car in the opposite lane around 7:40 am.

The red car lost control and rammed into a crash barrier before running directly into Nora's car. Nora and her driver were rushed to the hospital. Local police said fatigue might be the accident's cause.

Nora's car

Nora is the youngest daughter of Sun Fo, son of Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 Revolution that ended China's imperial rule. Sun Yat-sen is one of the few modern Chinese political figures revered both on the mainland and in Taiwan.

Nora was born in Shanghai. She became the youngest flight attendant in Taiwan at age 17. At 40, she became her eldest son's schoolmate at the University of Arizona and Babson College, where she received her MBA.

In 1986, she took posts as trade consul in the US ministry of commerce and as trade counselor in the US consulates in China and Europe.

She later set up a Hong Kong-based consultancy company and became president of Nora Sun Associates Ltd, a company specializing in business formation, government relations and management consulting in China.

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