Wan Qing Yuan - Admission free till end Oct 2011 (Where Sun Yat-sen stayed during his visits in Singapore)

Visit 晚晴园 (Wan Qing Yuan) also known as Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial this month.

Admission is free till end Oct 2011.

Wan Qing Yuan is a double-storey colonial villa at Balestier in Singapore. The villa is now a museum commemorating Dr Sun Yat Sen who visited Singapore eight times between 1900 and 1911.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Revolution of 1911, and the start of China's transition into a modern state.

Its a great chance for us to get to know our history, things we don't usually learn from our secondary history textbooks...

The exhibition also displays letters written by some of the 86 martyrs who sacrificed themselves during the Huang Hua Gang Uprising (黄花岗起义). If you watch the movie "1911" by Jackie Chan, you would probably know by now, who is Lin Jue Min (who wrote a touching farewell letter to his wife, 与妻诀别书)


Website:
http://www.wanqingyuan.com.sg/

Location:
12 Tai Gin Road, Singapore 327874

Opening hours:
- 10am to 5pm daily
- Last visiting hour is 4.30pm (Half an hour is not enough to view the exhibition in details, so be early :)

How to get there:
Bus 21, 130, 131, 139, 145 or 186
* Alight along Balestier Road, at the stop beside Zhong Shan Park

Nearest MRT stations to the Memorial Hall are:
Toa Payoh Station, Novena Station
(Bus 139 and 145 can be taken from Toa Payoh Bus Interchange)

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News Article:

SINGAPORE: The century-old Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall will reopen on 8 October after being
closed for over a year for repairs.

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) and the National Heritage Board
(NHB) spent some S$5.6 million on the revamp.

The reopening of the museum coincides with the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Chinese Revolution.
For the first time, more than 180 artefacts will be showcased to highlight Singapore's contribution during
the revolution.

The artefacts include a photograph of Sun Yat Sen at the museum in 1906.

Twenty of these artefacts have been loaned from the descendants of prominent locals such as Teochew
businessman Teo Eng Hock.

Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall general manager Shaun Phua said: "In the course of research and
securing loans from many of these descendants, my team and I went to San Francisco to visit the
descendant daughter of Teo Eng Hock, who is 88 years old.

"We also went to Sydney (to visit) the other daughter of Teo Eng Hock who is 97 years old.
"With these visits, we have secured interviews, archival records, and important photographs of Teo Eng
Hock. And now we've known his personality better."

-CNA/wk