sun yat-sen memorial hall

guangzhou is a city with glorious revolutionary traditions. over the past hundred years, guangzhounese have done a lot of moving and epic deeds. a great forerunner of revolution and a bourgeois democratic revolutionist, sun yat-sen launched the revolution of 1911, which overthrew the qing dynasty and established republic of china (1912-1949). the three major policies he put forward (cooperating with russian, cooperating with the communist party of china and supporting farmers and workers) became the three people’s principles. mr. sun devoted his whole life to seeking a road for the freedom and emancipation of the chinese people. after his death, many memorial buildings were set up all over the country, such as the famous sun yat-sen mausoleum in nanking, sun yat-sen memorial hall in zhongshan city and sun yat-sen memorial hall in guangzhou. 

sun yat-sen, whose first name and courtesy name was wen and yat sen respectively, was born in chuiheng village, xiangshan county, guangdong on november 12, 1866. after graduating from hong kong western medicine college in 1892, he worked as a doctor in macao, guangzhou and other places. in his early years, sun yat-sen pledged himself to overthrow the qing dynasty. in 1894, he submitted a written statement to li hongzhang, (a senior official in the qing dynasty) and called for political reform, but it was refused. then he went to honolulu and set up revive china society, the first chinese revolutionary organization formed by bourgeois. then in 1905, he set up a national revolutionary political party in japan——chinese revolutionary league, which took as its guidelines  elimination of foreign invaders,  restoration of china, establishment of republic of china and equal distribution of land ownership. he also put forward three people’s principles: nationalism, people’s livelihood and democracy.

in october 10, 1911, led by sun yat-sen, chinese revolutionary league launched a successful uprising in wuchang and people all over the country rose in response. soon, a revolutionary regime was established. sun yat-sen, after returning from abroad, was recommended and elected as the provisional president of republic of china on january 1, 1912, sun yat-sen was sworn in as president and set up the interim government of republic of china.

a month later, the interim government was forced to compromise to yuan shikai, chieftain of the northern warlords and sun yat-sen resigned. in 1912, sun yat-sen restructured the chinese revolutionary league into kuomintang(kmt), and established the chinese revolutionary party) in 1917, duan qirui, the premier of the government of northern warlords dismissed the congress and sun yat-sen hold an extraordinary meeting of congress in guangzhou, setting up law-protecting government. he was elected as generalissimo and started the movement to protect the law. in 1921, another extraordinary meeting of congress was held in guangzhou and the government of republic of china was established there. sun yat-sen assumed the office of extraordinary president and his office was the site where sun yat-sen memorial hall now sits on.

in january, 1924, sun yat-sen convened the first national congress of kumintong in guangzhou and put forward the “three major principles”: cooperating with russian, cooperating with cpc and supporting farmers and workers. at this meeting, he also gave a new explanation to the old three people’s principles and endowed them with new meanings. in november of the same year, he went northward at invitation to discuss national affairs but he died of liver cancer in beijing the next year. he was buried in sun yat-sen mausoleum in nanking, but sun yat-sen memorial hall and zhongshan monument were built in guangzhou, a heroic city where he have staged long-time struggle and established revolutionary regimes three times.

a stately octagonal building featuring chinese style, sun yat-sen memorial hall looks grand and solemn. on this site, there once sat fubiaojiandao and duliangongsuo (two organs under the qing court) as well as the offices of guangdong provincial governors in the early years of republic of china. the presidential palace was here when sun yat-sen assumed the office of extraordinary president in 1921. but in the same year, chen jiongming (a warlord) defected and burned down the presidential palace. a memorial hall was built here by guangzhounese in memory of sun yat-sen’s revolutionary deeds after his death. the foundation of the hall was laid in january 1929 and the construction was in the charge of li jishen, the then president of guangdong provincial government. the construction was later in the charge of chen jitang, who took over the post of li jishen after li jishen was put in captivity in nanking tangshan mountain by chiang kai-sheik, leader of the kmt. embedded in the east wall, the cornerstone bears the inscription: the foundation is laid by li jishen and other members of the preparative committee of sun yat-sen memorial hall on january 15, 1929.

located on dongfeng road at the foot of yuexiu mountain, sun yat-sen memorial hall was built in memory of sun yat-sen, the pioneer of chinese revolution. it was designed by lu yanzhen, a shandongnese and a returned overseas student. besides this stately memorial hall, he designed other famous buildings such as sun yat-sen mausoleum in nanking and the monument on yuexiu mountain, both of which are built to commemorate sun yat-sen.

sun yat-sen memorial hall，octagonal in shape, with a building area of 12,000 square meters, is of typical chinese architectural style. an octagonal pavilion-like top towers among double eaves on four sides. matched with red pillars and yellow walls, the eaves with yellow glazed tiles reach out in four layers. on the frontal eave of the hall hangs a plaque bearing in gold the words “the whole world as a community” which was inscribed by sun yat-sen himself. eaves of veranda with coloured drawings and ceilings with various patterns are supported by big red stone pillars. the steps around the central hall are of white granite, which looks elegant and solemn. this stately building is a masterpiece of traditional chinese architecture.

sun yat-sen memorial hall has three features and functions: firstly, it bears revolutionary significance. secondly, it carries great artistic value in architecture. thirdly, it is a landmark marking guangzhou city with revolutionary heroism.

in the past, the large-scale buildings in china were either palaces or temples and there was no great hall for big gatherings. standing 49 meters high, with a total building area of 8,300 square meters, sun yat-sen memorial hall became the first commemorative meeting hall when it was completed in october 1931. the report of its ribbon-cutting ceremony caused instant sensation and visitors both home and abroad flooded in.

the constructions in sun yat-sen memorial hall have four distinctive features: first, the building is made of reinforced concrete. measuring 58 meters in height and 71 meters in width, the main hall is divided into 2 stories inside. with 8 stairs and 11 entrances, the main hall can handle 5000 visitors.

secondly, no pillars can be seen in the main hall as all the 8 octagonal pillars have been hidden in the wall with ingenuity. these pillars support 4 steel joists with a span of 30 meters, which in turn support 8 major joists and thus an octagonal coping is formed, resembling an unfolded umbrella without a handle.

thirdly, supported by joists, the coping is built in three layers. the bottom layer features sloping checks, the middle layer is inlayed with glass skylights and the top layer was a creamy dome. the hall has an excellent lighting function as light can shoot in through the large glass. so lights are not needed to illuminate the hall in the day.

fourthly, because of the wide span of the steel joists, the hall looks spacious. wherever you sit in the hall, no pillar will block your view. what’s more, the hall is devoid of echoes. wherever you sit in the hall, you can hear the sound on the stage clearly even when the hall is full of audience. this structure is a result of the inventive use of acoustics and mechanics by the architect, lu yanzhen.

in the north of the hall lies a 19- meter-wide and 15-meter-deep stage, at the back of which the famous “the will of the premier” is engraved on. in the east, west and south, suspending balconies are collected together, which are accessible by six staircases around the hall. the walls of the hall are decorated with mountain-like patterns, colored tiers of brackets and other ornaments.

speaking of this unique construction, we can not ignore lu yanzhi, an outstanding architect who designed this memorial hall. 

lu yanzhi has another name as zhong yi, and a courtesy name as guyu. his ancestral home was in dongping county in shandong province, but he was born in tianjing city. he lost his father at 8 and went to paris with his sister at 9. he studied in beijing wangcheng school after returning home and then studied overseas in cornell university after graduated from tsinghua university. he set up an architecture office in shanghai after coming back to china.

at that time, the preparative committee of sun yat-sen memorial hall was offering a reward for construction designs. three best designs were picked out, all of which were the works of chinese architects. but the one finally selected was designed by lu yanzhen who was only 32 years old at that time. the magnificent hall, distinctive of traditional chinese architecture in shape, with a structure boasting the most advanced architectural techniques available at that time, suitable for modern gatherings, served as a precedent in china. he also designed sun yat-sun mausoleum in nanjing and zhongshan monument on yuexiu mountain in guangzhou, and the former, like sun yat-sen memorial hall, was selected as the best design.

much to our regret, this accomplished and outstanding architect died of lung cancer and intestinal cancer at the age of 36 in may 1929, before he could see the completion of sun yat-sen memorial hall. while he was living, he looked searchingly about the memorial hall under construction and kept nodding his head, saying that it was chinese people that have designed this sun yat-sen memorial hall. now the name “lu yanzhi” has become an entry in cihai and people will remember this outstanding talent who has left us precious cultural relics in architecture.

on the square of sun yat-sen memorial hall, there stands a statue of sun yat-sen, on whose base was engraved the whole text of the outline of the government of republic of china for building the country. before 1945, there was only a statue base but no statue of sun yat-sen in the memorial hall. in the spring of the year 1945, sun yat-sen university sent its bronze statue of sun yat-sen here. it was not until november 12, 1956 that the bronze statue was sent back to sun yat-sen university when the full-length statue of sun yat-sen, 5.5 meters in height and 3.9 tons in weight, was finished by yi jichang and some other famous sculptors. after an overhaul of sun yat-sen memorial hall in 1998, the statue standing on the square in front of sun yat-sen memorial hall was remolded in pure copper.

sitting on a site of 60,000 square meters, sun yat-sen memorial hall boasts elegant surroundings.

standing before the arches of the spacious and imposing hall, you can get the impression that the designer emphasized axes and general symmetry of the hall and tried to make the outside layout harmonious with inner design. the three 20-meter-wide arches in the façade looks well-proportioned and splendid with glazed tiles on the roof. 

before sun yat-sen memorial hall, there lies a patch of green lawn, in the center of which, stands the full-length statue of sun yat-sen on its granite base. but the main construction of the memorial hall lies north to the back of the steps.

on the east and west sides of the square before the hall, there stand a crane-like ornamental column and a mast respectively. as is known to everyone, ornamental column appears only in palace-style constructions. it thus proves how people admire sun yat-sen, this great forerunner of chinese revolution..

on the east and west sides of the yard behind the hall, there stands a two-story subsidiary building respectively. in the yard, ancient trees towers into the sky and precious flowers and trees such as osmanthus, silver birch and the kapok tree, thrive succeeding one another in different seasons. at northern gate there is a 300-year-old kapok tree whose diameter of trunk reaches 178cm. it is entitled as guangzhou’s “king of kapok”. while other plants are just beginning to sprout in early spring, a great number of red kapoks would be already in full bloom.

on both sides of the yard, there are two big white yulan trees, both of which come to be oldest threes in guangzhou with an age of over 70. measuring 90 centimeters in diameter, the two trees also come to be the yulan trees offering the widest shade with a shade coverage of more than 200 square meters. so the two yulan trees constitute another best of guangzhou.

brilliant and impressive, sun yat-sen memorial hall is bound to leave tourists showering praises on this modern architecture. it is not only a place where tourists can pay their tribute to sun yat-sen, but also a place where tourists can appreciate this modern chinese architectural treasure combining the traditional palace-style design and foreign plane design.

early in 1998, the guangzhou municipal government granted more than rmb 6,000 to overhaul sun yat-sen memorial hall. the main body of the construction was stately both inside and outside. the central air-conditioning system, the system of neon lights and acoustics and the system of supervising fire and security have all been changed and more electricity can be consumed. with all these changes, it can basically meet the requirement for grand performance. now the number of seats in the hall has been reduced from 4929 in 1975 to 3238. the stage has been widened from 15 meters to 19 meters and another stage that can rise and fall was put in place.

in the past, only a few gatherings or performances are held in sun yat-sen memorial hall every year. but with nearly a hundred large-scale performances of refined arts held here every year, now it has become one of guangzhou’s main venues for entertainment performances. singing and dancing, ballet, symphony, chorus, acrobatics and magic are performed here by performance troupes home and abroad. there are still films on very-large screen.

well deserving the title of a pearl of this traditional city of guangzhou, sun yat-sen memorial hall is historical monuments & cultural relics under state protection. together with huanghuagang, it was awarded the glorious title of “the top ten scenic spots in guangzhou” as both are related to the revolution of 1911.