A blessing and lei-draping ceremony was held on November 21, 2022, for the nearly half-acre Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park on the makai side of the Hawaii Theatre Center in downtown Honolulu. This event marked the completion of renovations to the park, achieved through partnerships between the City of Honolulu and neighboring businesses. The park’s original landscape was cleaned and paved and the statue of its namesake moved from the corner farthest from the street to the center of the park. Trees and shrubbery commonly found in Chinese gardens — including bamboo, Hong Kong orchid and pak lan — were planted. The base of the statue will eventually be faced with granite imported from China.
The park’s eponymous statue is of a 13-year-old Sun dressed in traditional Chinese garments and carrying two books. It was gifted to the park in 2007 by the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Hawaii Foundation. The statue, titled “A School Boy in Hawai‘i”, was sculpted by Chu Tat Shing, and is accompanied by a plaque that reads, “This is my Hawai‘i… here I was brought up and educated; and it was here that I came to know what modern, civilized governments are like and what they mean.’’
In 1879, at the age of thirteen, Sun Yat-sen came to Hawai‘i from Zhongshan, China. He spent many of his teenage years growing up and being educated in Honolulu. He organized China’s first revolutionary society, the Xing Zhong Hui (Revive China Society), here in 1894, in what is now Honolulu’s Chinatown. Sun Yat-sen went on to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and establish a democratic China in 1911. The dedication of this statue recognizes the sacrifice and support of the people of Hawai‘i in nurturing the roots of modern China through the education of its “Founding Father.”
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/22/hawaii-news/dr-sun-yat-sen-memorial-park-holds-reopening-ceremony-in-chinatown/
Photos from Star Advertiser
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2022/11/21/photo-gallery/blessing-ceremony-for-dr-sun-yat-sen-memorial-park-in-chinatown/
Photo: Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi (Center with lei) with members of the Board of the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Hawaii Foundation in front of Dr. Sun statute.
