The Sun Yat-sen or Zhongshan Memorial Hall is an octagon-shaped building in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, capital of China's

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Province. The hall was designed by Lu Yanzhi and was built with funds raised by local and overseas Chinese people in memory of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

. Construction work commenced in 1929 and completed in 1931. The hall is a large octagonal structure with a span of without pillars, housing a large stage and seats 3,240 people.

History

The memorial hall stands on the site of Guangzhou's Presidential Palace during the

Constitutional Protection Movement The Constitutional Protection Movement () was a series of movements led by Sun Yat-sen to resist the Beiyang government between 1917 and 1922, in which Sun established another government in Guangzhou as a result. It was known as the Fourth Revolut ...

, when the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...

operated a rival "Chinese" government to the

Zhili Clique The Zhili clique () was a military faction that split from the Republic of China's Beiyang Army during the country's Warlord Era. It was named for Zhili Province (modern-day Hebei), which was the clique's base of power. At its height, it also ...

's Beijing regime. The palace was damaged during

Ye Ju Ye Ju (1881–1934), formerly romanized as was a Chinese Nationalist general and governor of Guangdong Province. Life Ye was born in 1881. He graduated from the Guangdong Military Academy and first served under Long Jiguang. After Long's fa ...

's 16 June 1922 attack on Sun Yat-sen, during which—though he had already fled— his wife narrowly escaped shelling and rifle fire before meeting him on the gunboat '' Yongfeng'',. where they were joined by Chiang Kai-shek. The hall itself has been severely damaged and repaired several times until 1998, when it was comprehensively upgraded to its present-day condition. A statue of Sun Yat-sen was erected in front of the main entrance.

Transportation

The memorial hall is accessible from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station of

Guangzhou Metro The Guangzhou Metro ( zh, s=广州地铁, labels=no) is the rapid transit system of the city of Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be b ...

References

Bibliography

* . * . Buildings and structures completed in 1931 Monuments and memorials to Sun Yat-sen Tourist attractions in Guangzhou Monuments and memorials in Guangzhou Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Guangdong Yuexiu District {{PRChina-struct-stub

History

Transportation

See also

References

Bibliography