Dr. Sun Yatsen’s Mausoleum
Among the historical and cultural attractions in Nanjing, the best known is Dr. Sun Yatsen’s Mausoleum.
Dr. Sun Yatsen’s Mausoleum sits on the southern slope of the Purple Mountain in the eastern suburbs of the city. Designed by a young architect Lu Yanzhi, the mausoleum took more than 3 years to build and cost 1.5 million silver dollars. The construction began on March 12, 1926 and completed in 1929 when Dr. Sun Yatsen was buried there on June 1.
Dr. Sun Yatsen, also named Sun Wen or Sun Zhongshan, is considered as the father of the Chinese democratic revolution. Born in a peasant family in Guangdong Province in 1866, he had his primary education in Honolulu, Hawaii sponsored by his elder brother from 1878 to 1883. He was so sad when he saw the poverty of the country upon his return. China had been a super power for centuries. But since the middle of Qing Dynasty in the 1800’s, China began to decline, which owed a great deal to the corruptions and incompetence of the Qing government. Foreign invasions and peasant rebellions made it even worse. The Opium War in 1840 ended with the “Treaty of Nanjing”. China was forced to pay an indemnity of 21 million silver dollars and cede Hong Kong to the Great Britain and open 5 free port cities to the westerners, which were Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai. Following were the wars again launched by France in 1883 and Japan in 1894. The Chinese people lived in a miserable life. They were referred to the “sick man of the Orient” by the westerners. Dr. Sun Yatsen dreamed to save the nation by practicing medicine and that led him to Hong Kong to learn medicine when he was 21 years old. However, it did not work. The reality made him give up his medical career in his hometown and Macao but turn to politics in 1893.
From then on, he kept petitioning to the Qing government for reforms but was never responded. At great disappointment, he left the country later and went canvassing extensively in the United States of America, Europe and Japan, trying to win the sympathy and support from the overseas Chinese. With the funds raised, he organized “Revive China League” - China’s first bourgeois organization. The following 1905 witnessed the founding of the “Chinese Revolutionary League” headed by Dr. Sun Yatsen, a party with a clear-cut program of “Expel Tartars, Restore China, Establish Republic & Equalize Land.” Dr. Sun Yatsen also put forth 3 democratic principles of “Nationalism, Democracy & People’s Livelihood” as his political goal. The armed movements against the Qing government took place continuously.
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