Seminar in UK's Liverpool marks Sun Yat-sen's birth

Detailed summary

Yang Chunya / China Daily A seminar commemorating the 160th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth was held in Liverpool, England, on Nov 6, recalling the moment 130 years ago when…

A seminar commemorating the 160th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth was held in Liverpool, England, on Nov 6, recalling the moment 130 years ago when Sun first set foot in Britain at the Merseyside port city.

The event was hosted at the office of the Chinese Freemasons (Chee Kung Tong) UK, where Sun once engaged with the local Chinese community. It was organized by the Chinese council of Manchester and Liverpool-based Chinese community organizations.

Sun Yat-sen, born in 1866 in South China's Guangdong province, played a leading role in the 1911 Revolution, which overthrew the imperial Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and ended more than 2,000 years of feudal rule in China.

Sun had deep ties with Britain when he was deported overseas by the then Qing government. He once faced adversity in London and passed through Liverpool several times.

According to leaders of Chee Kung Tong, it was the community's members who once received and assisted Sun when he first arrived in the city in 1896, and the hall has shared a deep historical bond with him ever since. In 1904, Sun joined the Chee Kung Tong in the United States to mobilize overseas Chinese support and lat-er helped reorganize it, setting out principles of "expel the Tartar invaders, restore China, establish a republic, and equalize land rights", thereby formally placing the organization on the path of democratic revolution.

In return, the Chee Kung Tong gave vigorous financial backing to Sun's revolutionary cause, even mortgaging and selling its own property to raise funds for uprisings inside China.

"We are so proud that we Chinese in Liverpool came to Mr Sun's assistance timely when he was here 130 years ago. We would like to carry on Mr Sun's patriotic spirit, ready to contribute to our motherland anytime she needs," Danny Hui, chairman of the UK Northwest Association for the Promotion of China Reunification, said.

Chinese Consul General in Manchester Tang Rui said that the best way to commemorate Sun Yat-sen is to inherit his…

Opening of the article, excerpted from China Daily. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.