On behalf of our Association (Vancouver Shunde Benevolent Association), I attended the celebration of the Xinhai Revolution 110th Anniversary held by Dart Coon Club Headquarters of Canada in Vancouver Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. During the banquet, the chairman of Hongmen Dart Coon Club Headquarters of Canada gave a speech about the bitter and more than 100 years history of the Chinese who were overseas. I was impressed by how the overseas Hongmen had helped Dr. Sun Yat Sen prepare for the establishment of new China.
Dr. Sun Yat Sen was a great pioneer of the democratic revolution in New China. He had been to North America many times to contact overseas Chinese, set up a fund-raising Bureau, issue bonds, and raise Revolutionary Military funds. The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver is the place where he raised money from many speeches here. The overseas Hongmen has considerable influence among the overseas Chinese. The Hongmen Zhigong hall in Vancouver supported the revolutionary movement in China and became the main force for Dr. Sun Yat Sen to launch the revolution of 1911. It not only “donated money” but also “donated life”. In the Guangzhou Uprising, which fired the first shot of the revolution of 1911, 68 of the 72 martyrs in Huanghuagang were Hongmen brothers. Behind the ten uprisings to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was the Hongmen and Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s alliance in North America that jointly concluded the glorious deeds of the times. On October 10, 1925, the Hongmen Zhigong hall was transformed into the China Zhigong party, one of the eight “democratic parties” recognized by the ruling party, the Communist Party of China, within the current political system of the people’s Republic of China.
