memorial museum of generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion

generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion is one of the historical monuments & cultural relics under state protection. it is located on 18#, donghe street, fangzhi road, zhunhai district, and the east of the south bank of the newly-built jiangwan bridge, bordering on pearl river.

memorial museum of generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion is a relic museum, built on the base of the site of generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion, in order to commemorate sun yat-sen’s building his mansion twice here, in 1917 and in 1923 respectively. the floor area of the memorial museum is 7,965 square meters. the museum consists of two main buildings on the south and north, squares on the east and west, and a gatehouse.

the site of the mansion is the site of guangdong cement plant.  on september 1st 1917, sun yat-sen was elected the generalissimo of the navy and land forces of the military government of republic of china.  he led the movement of guarding the provisional constitution and fought against the northern sea warlords. sun yat-sen borrowed one part of the area of the guangdong cement plant and established the generalissimo’s mansion, with the six departments of finance, foreign affairs, domestic affairs, navy, land forces and traffic service. before long, due to the exclusion from the warlords in guangxi, sun yat-sen was forced to resign in may 1918 and went to japan by way of shantou and then went to shanghai.

in february 1923, after the revolutionary army expelled the rebellious army of chen jiongming, sun yat-sen returned to guangzhou and organized the government again. on march 2nd, the hq of navy, air and land forces was founded at guangzhou agriculture and forest experimental field.  on april 1st, sun yat-sen moved back here and restarted the generalissimo’s mansion with 4 departments, 3 bureaus and 3 offices. during this period, sun yat-sen established guangdong university (i.e. the former of sun yat-sen university) and huangpu military academy. afterwards, sun yat-sen organized the northern expedition army, put down the rebellion of commercial organizations, reorganized kmt and finally prompted the first kmt-cpc cooperation, which promoted the bourgeoisie democratic revolution to a new climax.

in late 1924, sun yat-sen went up north, and then passed away in  beijing on march 12th 1925. in july, the hq was reorganized, and the national government of the republic of china was formally founded, which is also called guangzhou national government..

sun yat-sen is a great revolutionary pioneer. he selflessly devoted all his glorious life to the great liberation cause of the chinese people. visiting the site where sun yat-sen established revolutionary regime for a second time, you understand lots of the great, heroic and glorious achievements in his life.

in august 1983, the site of generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion was announced as the historical monuments & cultural relics under municipal protection by the people’s government of guangzhou city. in september 1989, it was announced as the historical monuments & cultural relics under provincial protection by the government of guangdong province. in november 1996, it was announced as the historical monuments & cultural relics under state protection by the state council.

in zhongkai college of agricultural technology, not far away from the site of generalissimo sun yat-sen’s mansion, stands the memorial museum of liao zhongkai and he xiangning, a historical monuments & cultural relics under provincial protection. liao zhongkai was leader of the left wing of kmt, party representative of the huangpu military academy and firm supporter and participant of sun yat-sen’s revolutionary cause. he was assigned to the post of governor of guangdong province and in other important posts. he xiangning was his wife, acting as leader of the women department of kmt, and after liberation, she worked as the vice president of the cppcc and vice president of the npc. she was also a famous painter. in 1927, two years after liao zhongkai was murdered, he xiangning established zhongkai school of agriculture and industry (i.e. the former of zhongkai college of agricultural technology) in 1982, the government opened up the site of the office buildings of the school and built a memorial museum, in which some cultural relics, photos, poems and painting works are displayed.  they are all about liao zhongkai, he xiangning and their first son, liao chengzhi, when they did revolutionary activities.