Overseas Chinese mark Sun Yat-sen's birthday with exhibitions and seminars

Various events and exhibits have been organized worldwide by overseas Chinese to mark the 150th birthday of Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.

It seems fitting that they are playing an active part in the proceedings, because when Sun sought funds for his cause and supporters, it was the overseas Chinese who offered tremendous help and whom he regarded as "the Mother of the Revolution".

"There can be no revolution in China without their help," he said.

Overseas Chinese supported Sun and funded his travels to Japan, the United States, Canada and Europe. He visited countries with sizable Chinese populations to promulgate his ideas, which gave birth to the Kuomintang political party.

"I'm second-generation Chinese. The 1911 Revolution connects the overseas Chinese like us with Chinese history, enabling us to better understand our roots," Lai Weimin, an artist in Singapore, said last week after visiting an exhibition of cultural relics related to the Wuchang Uprising of 1911.

The uprising was the first major clash between the revolutionary forces and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and set the framework for the 1911 Revolution that overthrew the dynasty.

Singapore was an important base of Sun's revolutionary activities.

In 1906, Sun established the Nanyang (Singapore) branch of the Tongmenghui political party at a building called Wan Qing Yuan, provided by Teo Eng Hock, a Chinese businessman living in Singapore.

At a seminar in Houston, Texas, last week about Sun Yat-sen, nearly 100 overseas Chinese gathered to commemorate his historical contributions.

Dan Mengxin, a granddaughter of Sun's secretary Dan Tao at Tongmenghui and an artist in Louisiana, said at the seminar that the events commemorating Sun gave her a deeper understanding of her grandfather's contribution to the revolution.

"Now, living in the United States, I'm devoted to spreading the excellent Chinese culture and art to the West. This is also something that I can do for my home country," she told China News Service.

mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn