Senior officials from the CPPCC National Committee, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the Unified Front Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Beijing municipal government paid tribute to Sun Yat-sen at the Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Zhongshan (Yat-sen) Park, in downtown Beijing.

Tuesday is also the first day of the reopening of the hall after a five-month renovation. A white marble statue of Sun Yat-sen appeared for the first time in the Memorial Hall. The 2.1 meter high statue shows Sun in his later days sitting in a sofa. The statue was the work of Cheng Yunxian, president of the China Society of Sculptors. The renovation work also involves washing and the installation of fire-fighting equipment.

An exhibition titled "Sun Yat-sen and Beijing" also opened Tuesday in the hall, with 200 pictures of Sun, his scriptures, books, seals, clothes and other historic items on show.

Sun Yat-sen, who led the 1911 Revolution, that overthrew China's last feudal dynasty, died in Beijing on March 12, 1925. His body was temporarily kept in the then Central Park, which was renamed Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) Park in 1928.

Commemorative activities were also held Tuesday in Zhongshan, Sun's hometown, Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan.

(People's Daily November 13, 2002)