Showing posts with label Maui Hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maui Hawaii. Show all posts

Friday, June 28, 2013

Sun Yat Sen Monument, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii


This is a private monument to Sun Yat Sen in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.  This is one of at least three monuments to Sun Yat Sen in Hawaii, and at least one of two on Maui, the other being in a park on the island.

Sun Yat Sen is regarded as the father of the Chinese republic and remains revered by the Chinese, including both the dispossessed Nationalist Chinese and the Communist Chinese.  Nonetheless, upon at least first blush monuments to him in Hawaii are surprising.  However, Maui had a fair sized Chinese population at one time, and, moreover, Sun Yat Sen was sent to Hawaii in his early school days to study while living in his brother's household.  So the islands have a legitimate claim to providing the foundation for his republican ideals.  A birth certificate even exists claiming Hawaiian birth for Sun Yat Sen, which was erroneous, but perhaps an understandable error at the time of its issuance.