This year marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen. Related themed exhibitions have been held in many places overseas to look back at the years when Mr. Sun Yat-sen traveled overseas and to reproduce the magnificent past of overseas Chinese and revolutionary pioneers working together to save the country.
"Walking Along the Road - Photo Exhibition Commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Birth of Sun Yat-sen" toured the UK, Malaysia and other countries. The exhibition brings together Sun Yat-sen's precious historical photos, first-day stamp covers and other collections, and combines it with local historical materials from various places to show the magnificent journey of Sun Yat-sen and overseas Chinese joining the revolution.
In an interview with a reporter from China News Service, a representative of the British curatorial organizing committee introduced that the British exhibition area relies on local historical materials, displays archives and letters collected by the British Library and museums, and focuses on Sun Yat-sen's four visits to Britain from 1896 to 1911. The exhibits include letters from foreign friends who participated in the rescue of Sun Yat-sen during his tragedy in London, as well as pictures and documents from relevant reports in "Globe".
The curator stated that during Sun Yat-sen's stay in the UK, he received financial and interpersonal support from the early local overseas Chinese community. Sun Yat-sen communicated with various social strata and groups in Europe, spread revolutionary ideas, and promoted the formation of revolutionary groups; at the same time, he read extensively in classics, examined the social reform experiences of various countries, and gradually improved the Three People's Principles ideological system. Overseas Chinese in Britain supported the domestic revolutionary cause through publicity and fund raising.
The exhibition aims to demonstrate Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary spirit of pursuit and perseverance. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideal is a historical memory shared by all Chinese people at home and abroad. Many viewers were deeply moved after viewing the exhibition.
Lin Jiahao, director of the Malaysian Chinese Museum, said that Sun Yat-sen visited Nanyang many times, visited rubber gardens and mines to preach, and guided the establishment of a reading and newspaper club to enlighten people's wisdom and spread revolutionary ideas among the overseas Chinese communities in Nanyang. In 1910, he moved the Nanyang General Headquarters of the Tongmenghui to Penang, where he held a Penang Conference to plan the Huanghuagang Uprising. Countless overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia poured their money into helping, actively subscribed for revolutionary bonds, and sent their children back to the country to join the war. Among the martyrs of the Huanghuagang Uprising were many overseas Chinese from Malaysia. This period of history of overseas Chinese vigorously assisting the revolution is the collective glory of the Malaysian Chinese community passed down from generation to generation, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s spirit of “the world is for the common good” has always illuminated the future generations’ pursuit of national rejuvenation.
In San Francisco, the United States, the Overseas Anti-Japanese War Memorial Museum and others launched the special exhibition "Sun Yat-sen and the Trans-Pacific Travelers in the Archives". The exhibition begins with the founding of the Honolulu Association to Revive China, follows Sun Yat-sen's footsteps across the Pacific several times, and unfolds a picture of overseas Chinese in the United States supporting the democratic revolution of the motherland. The exhibition also launched a supporting album, "The Convergence of Rivers and Seas: The World is Common," which symbolizes the united efforts of overseas Chinese to save the country and Sun Yat-sen's long-term vision for the cause of democratic revolution.
Curator Zhao Xiangjun said that Sun Yat-sen was detained by the Immigration Bureau when he arrived in San Francisco in 1904 and faced deportation. At this critical moment, the local overseas Chinese group urgently hired lawyers and made various efforts to help Sun Yat-sen successfully enter the country. At that time, overseas Chinese in the United States were suffering from discrimination and oppression under the haze of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and they had a very clear understanding of the revolution. Only when the motherland is strong can overseas Chinese stand upright. Every one of Sun Yat-sen's lectures was packed with seats. Laundry workers, restaurant owners and other ordinary overseas Chinese scrimped on food and clothing and scraped together their change to fund the uprising. Chinese-language newspapers and magazines in the United States continued to publish Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideas, winning widespread support and attention for the revolutionary cause.
Zhao Xiangjun said that Dr. Sun Yat-sen's vow to "go forward unswervingly toward my goal; the more frustrated I get, the more energetic I will be, and I will keep working hard" inspired countless overseas Chinese who left their hometowns, and was also the epitome of the life of the overseas Chinese who supported the revolution a hundred years ago. The archives record the story of Sun Yat-sen and the overseas Chinese who fought side by side to save the country. They are still moving over a hundred years and inspire those who come after us to continue to move forward bravely for their ideals.
