A Look Into The Region

The Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall located in Guangzhou (Canton), the People's Republic of China, adorns the cover of this issue. Built to commemorate one of China's most revered political figures, Sun Yat Sen, the octagonal-shaped hall is 155 feet high, seats almost 4700 people and was constructed between 1929-1931 from donations provided by local and overseas Chinese. Leader of the Chinese nationalist revolution and the first president of the republic that succeeded the Manchu (Ch'ing) dynasty in 1911, Sun Yat Sen (born November 12, 1866) was educated for 3 years in Hawaii at a Christian school before returning to study medicine in Canton and Hong Kong, practicing briefly after graduating in 1892. A 1907 manifesto contained his Three Principles of the People, roughly translatable as nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood. Before his death in 1925, the last years of his life were spent as an elder statesman whose principles were sacrosanct, and his tomb in the city of Nanking has become a national shrine.