Sun-Yat-sen-1912.jpg (Photo : www.theapricity.com)
A 200-book collection that belonged to the Republic of China's first president and founding father Sun Yat-sen is set to be exhibited on Tuesday for the very first time in his former home in Huangpu District, Shanghai.
According to Liu Jinchi, the curator of Sun's abode which has been turned into a memorial hall for the famed Chinese revolutionary, the former Chinese president owned over 5,000 books which are contained inside the hall.
"Sun was addicted to reading and it was his only pastime," Liu stated, adding that the book collection to be showcased at his house on Xiangshan Road is only a small portion of the revolutionary's wide array of literary assemblage.
Liu said that Sun was very fond of visiting bookstores along Sichuan and Fuzhou Roads, though many of his books were purchased in Japan.
Among the titles to be displayed in Sun's memorial hall is Karl Marx's "A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy" and "The Economic Principles of Confucius and His School," which were both released in 1911.
Other books about politics, agriculture, industry, military strategies, economics and social life will also be showcased, including a volume given to him by his son, Sun Ke, together with a train ticket from 1918 that he used as a bookmark.
Before Dr. Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, he decided to give his precious literary collection to his wife Soong Ching Lin, who lived with him in their house in Huangpu District from 1918.
Soong stayed in the house after Sun's death until 1937.
