Mansao Evocativa de Sun Yat-Sen / Sun Yat-Sen Memorial House

This Moorish-style mansion was built in memory of Sun Yat-sen (actually Sun Wen, 1866-1925), founder of the first Chinese Republic. Dr Sun's original dwelling, where he also practiced as a doctor, was later destroyed when explosives stored in the house were detonated. Sun Yat-sen never actually lived in the present house, which was built after his death. It contains documents on his life and interesting photographs of Chiang Kai-shek, later head of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

After the fall of the Manchu dynasty in 1912 Sun Yat-sen proclaimed China a republic. He was the leader of the Kuomintang, a democratic nationalist party which fought against the corrupt great landowners. He formulated the aims of the Chinese revolution and developed the theories of constitutional law on which it was based. At first the Kuomintang under Sun Yat-sen succeeded in breaking the domination of the Manchu dynasty, but by the end of the revolution there were marked disagreements with his long-standing companion Mao Tse-tung. While the third man in the alliance, Chiang Kai-shek, left the Chinese mainland following a civil war and declared the island of Formosa (now Taiwan) to be the Republic of China, the teachings of Sun Yat-sen became of less importance. Today, however, he is regarded as a "liberator", founder of the Republic and father of modern China, by both the government of the People's Republic of China and the Taiwan authorities. His principal works were "The Three Principles of the People" and "The International Development of China".