Dr. Sun Yat Sen

Fern and I took a "busman's holiday" on Saturday and went on a guided walking tour of Victoria's Chinatown. The tour, led by local historical raconteur Chris Adams, was fascinating and taught me new things about an area of the city I thought I knew well. I fully intend to take some of their other walking tours and recommend them highly. If you are planning a visit to Victoria don't hesitate to spend a few hours on one of their walking tours. You can find out about the tours they offer on their website, discoverthepast.com. One of the things I discovered was the statue pictured above, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. The statue was erected by the Chinatown Community as a mark of respect for Dr. Sun Yat Sen. Many of the Chinese people who came to Victoria in its early days came because conditions under the imperial government in China were so bad. As they became more successful here they continued to have a strong interest in improving life for those who remained in China. For many the best way to do that was to support Dr. Sun Yat Sen in his efforts to overthrow the imperial government in China. To make a long story short, Dr. Sun succeeded in ousting the Emperor of China, became the first President of China, and the rest is history. I will refer you to Wikipedia for more details. Suffice to say that Dr. Sun is immensely important in Chinese history where he occupies a place not unlike Nelson Mandela in Africa.