Exhibition explores Sun Yat-sen's image and legacy in Hong Kong
A new exhibition at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall examines how the revolutionary leader's image was shaped through coins, stamps, sculptures and media. Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Baptist University, the show runs alongside free public programmes.
A special exhibition examining the portrayal and presentation of Dr Sun Yat-sen opened at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Hong Kong on 12 November 2026. The show, titled “A New Vision – The Shaping and Presentation of Sun Yat-sen's Image”, traces the revolutionary leader's life and how his image has been reproduced across different media.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Woo Chi-wo, Deputy Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (Museums), said Sun Yat-sen devoted his life to national rejuvenation. From his early determination to save the country to his studies abroad, his organisation of the revolution and the overthrow of imperial rule, Mr Woo noted that Sun's ideas laid the foundation for modernising China. The principles of equality, fraternity and “all under heaven as one” have been subtly transmitted through various images in daily life, he added.
Other guests at the ceremony included Professor Lai Yuen-long, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University; Sun Bida, Sun Yat-sen's great-grandnephew and museum expert consultant; Bethany Wilkes, Acting University Librarian at Hong Kong Baptist University; and Ho Wai-yi, Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of History.
Sun Yat-sen lived during a period of rapid development in imaging technology and print media. His image as a revolutionary spread widely in pictures and text. The exhibition displays coins and stamps that bore his likeness across the country, as well as commemorative stamps, coins, statues and cartoons from home and abroad. About 100 historical photographs, newspaper clippings and archives, supplemented by multimedia programmes, show how Sun's multiple identities – as a patriot and a figure comfortable with both Chinese and Western culture – were shaped and presented over time.
To complement the exhibition, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, together with Hong Kong Baptist University and the Hong Kong Public Library, has organised a series of free activities. These include public lectures, guided tours for the public and schools, and workshops. Six public libraries will also host panel displays and parent-child workshops.
The exhibition is jointly organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Baptist University. It is co-ordinated by the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and the Baptist University History Department's Sun Yat-sen Research Project, with support from the university's library.
