Across China on Sunday, commemorative activities were held to celebrate the 81st death anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the Chinese democratic movement.

Born in 1866 in Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City) in south China's Guangdong Province, Dr. Sun is known across the country as a "great revolutionist and statesman" who fought against feudalism and imperialist aggression for the independence and freedom of the Chinese people.

 

Solemn commemorative ceremonies were held in Beijing and Shanghai.

 

Elsewhere, more than 100 people gathered at the Memorial Hall of the Wuchang Uprising in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province, where the first gunshot of the revolution to overthrow China's last feudal regime Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) was fired.

 

A picture exhibition has also opened in a Wuhan museum, with records of Dr. Sun's revolutionary activities in Southeast Asia on display.

 

Dr. Sun died of an illness in Beijing, known then as Beiping, on March 12, 1925.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2006)