Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Three Visits to Hangzhou

Dr Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) is a great pioneering of Chinese democratic revolu-tion He embarked heroically upon the task of terminating the millennia-long feudal system and turning China into a modern republic Considered the founding father of the Republic of China (1911-1949)， he enjoys great prestige among Chinese people

Dr Sun Yat-sen visited Hangzhou three times， all after the success of the 1911 Revolution

After his resignation from the provision-al presidency of the Republic of China in April 1912， Dr Sun Yat-sen made inspec-tion tours across the country in the capacity of the general director of national railways He visited Anqing and Wuhu， two cities on the Yangtze River in neighboring Anhui Province， before he came to visit Hangzhou on November 8， 1912 At the invitation of the Autumn Society， Dr Sun Yat-sen came to attend a public memorial ceremony in honor of Martyr Qiu Jin (1875-1907) at Fenglin Temple on the West Lake Dr Sun wrote a couplet to commemorate the comrade he had met first in Japan His first visit to Hangzhou we brief as the city was not on his busy travel schedule

Dr Sun came to Zhejiang on December 9， 1912 at the invitation of the people of Zhejiang He came to Hangzhou from Shanghai by taking a chartered train The train left Shanghai at six o’clock on the morning of December 9 The special train stopped over at Songjiang， Jiaxing， Xiashi， Xieqiao and Chang’an， cities and towns on the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway Dr Sun met local people at every stop

It was not until 2:40 in the afternoon that the train reached Genshan Gate Railway Station in Hangzhou The ex-president was met with more than 100 local representa-tives including Zhejiang Governor Zhu Rui， Commander Lu Gongwang of the Sixth Division of the Army， the president and the vice president of the provincial legislative assembly， and leading citizens of Zhejiang A military band played music and a group of honor guards saluted Dr Sun shook hands with the people on the platform He then took a sedan ride to the government building at Meihuabei， took a brief rest there and left to deliver a speech at Political Science and Law Auditorium in Mapo Lane

The trip from the governor’s office to the auditorium proved difficult Crowds of people rushed to the streets to cheer Dr Sun It was not until past 4 o’clock in the afternoon that Dr Sun reached the auditorium

The 800-strong audience was com-posed of KMT members， the members of the provincial legislative assembly， representatives of local organizations and people from all walks of life As Dr Sun had requested not to hold a grand ceremony and asked to meet with children from the city’s orphanage The ceremony was sim-ple enough There was a cup of tea at the speaker’s table

Dr Sun made a speech He talked about his visit to Qiu Jin’s tomb and about how to create a good life for the people He ex-plained his four-point manifesto: bringing capitalism under control; distributing land equally， nationalizing the railway system， and promoting education

On the morning of December 10， Dr Sun Yat-sen took a boat ride to visit White Cloud Temple on the West Lake The revo-lutionaries had used the temple as the secret headquarters before the 1911 Revolution Dr Sun Yat-sen met with Abbot Zhiliang and his disciple Yizhou Dr Sun wrote an inscription at the temple

At 9 o’clock on the morning of Decem-ber 10， Dr Sun Yat-sen visited Qiu Jin’s tomb and a group tomb of the soldiers who had fallen in the siege of Nanjing City in 1911 After the memorial ceremony， he toured the West Lake and took a picture at a photo studio near Yongjin Gate At 10 o’clock， he came back to the Solitary Park to meet with local military and government officials and celebrities

At 11:40， a reception banquet was held at Louwailou Restaurant near the Solitary Hill in honor of Dr Sun Dr Sun spoke for half an hour addressing a series of problems harassing the national economy After Dr Sun， Zhu Rui and Lu Gongwang spoke respectively After the banquet， the guests and hosts took a group photo in front of the restaurant Then Dr Sun visited Wenlange Library next door to the restaurant At 5 o’clock， Dr Sun came back to the downtown to attend a reception in his honor held by the none-government organizations in the city

During his second visit to Hangzhou， Dr Sun inspected the city’s railway system and the Qiantang River， visited Zhijiang University and had lunch with students and teachers there After lunch he took a train ride from Zhakou at the riverside to Hushu， which was on the other side of the city He visited shops there Dr Sun also visited Lingyin Temple and temples along Tianzhu On the morning of December 12， he traveled back to Shanghai by train

His third visit to Hangzhou started on August 16， 1916 He arrived in Hangzhou at the invitation of Lu Gongwang， now Zhejiang Governor and Military Com-mander By then Yuan Shikai had passed away in the disgraceful fiasco after he self-proclaimed emperor of China

Dr Sun and his wife stayed at a hotel in downtown while officials of the provincial government came to visit him The governor himself did not come with his colleagues Kang Youwei (1858-1927)， a great royal-ist scholar， left Hangzhou in a hurry after learning about Dr Sun’s visit to Hangzhou Governor Lu Gongwang saw him off and came back to welcome Dr Sun

In the afternoon， Dr Sun visited Zhe-jiang Legislative Assembly and delivered a speech In the speech， he pointed out that construction was more difficult than destruction He encouraged comrades in Zhejiang to work hard and set the province up as an example for great construction in China

On the morning of August 17， Dr Sun and other guests toured the West Lake for sightseeing They visited Three Pools Mir-roring the Moon， an artificial island in the lake Then they came to the Solitary Hill where they visited the group tomb of the soldiers who fell in the siege of Nanjing and the tomb of Qiu Jin Dr Sun became emotional when he recalled Qiu Jin was the first from Zhejiang to join the United League They had lunch at a pavilion near the tomb After the dinner， they took a boat tour again

On the morning of August 18， Dr Sun and his friends got up early and hiked all the way to the Morning Sun Pavilion， a vantage venue in Gem Hill where you can take a panoramic view of the city spreading from east to west and northward toward the Qiantang River in the south

In the afternoon， Dr Sun attended a banquet held by Lu Gongwang Present at the banquet were leading citizens of Zhejiang Province

Dr Sun toured the West Lake the next morning and in the afternoon， he made a speech at the provincial assembly address-ing the topic of local autonomy He empha-sized the importance of local autonomy and thought it would consolidate the country as a whole He attended a banquet in his honor in the evening and made a speech on the constitution He mentioned that government should recruit talents through national examination

On the morning of 20th August， Dr Sun Yat-sen visited the government office and said goodbye before he crossed the Qiantang River on his way to visit Shaoxing