Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall was built in honor of the great Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Completed in 1976 and designed by the famous architect Wang Da-wei, it is one of Taipei City's most well known landmarks. A total of 2,626 people can be placed among its 36 rows of comfortable seats, making it the largest indoor auditorium in Taiwan. Before the completion of the National Concert Hall and the National Theater in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, it was the most important place for the performing arts in the country.

The auditorium does not have any special musical or theatrical associated with it and may be rented out by anyone. In addition to large-scale dance and musical productions, this space is often used for important memorial services, international meetings, and awards ceremonies. All of the seats are on the first floor and the best ones are in the first 25 rows. During intermission you may go up to the second floor to relax in the coffee shop.

Other Facilities

In addition to the auditorium, this complex also consists of the Chung Shan, Yat-sen, and De Ming Galleries as well as an Exhibition on Dr. Sun Yat-sen. It also has an audiovisual room, a lecture hall, a library, and an assembly hall.

The first room of the Exhibition on Dr. Sun Yat-sen features relics and calligraphy of his handwriting; Badge of the Generalissimo's Office; Letters and official documents signed by Dr. Sun; Relics of revolutionary martyrs; Manuscript of Sun Wen's Theory; Manuscript of lectures on the Principle of Democracy as revised by Dr. Sun; His draft recording the speech on the Three Principles of the People.

The second room, in turn, features the Provisional Law of the Republic of China; Declaration of Kuomintang; The oath of the Chinese Revolutionary Party; Letters of Dr. Sun during the campaign against Yuan Shih-Kai for sustaining the Provisional Law; A Faithful Record and bronze badge issued for Dr. Sun's burial service.

The Great Assembly Hall, designed for large conferences, can seat 1,800 people. It is equipped with state-of-the-art translation equipment. The Lecture Hall is frequently visited by a wide variety of speakers and may also be used for seminars and conferences.

The Chung Shan Gallery is one of the largest centers for art in Taiwan and frequently puts on important cultural exhibits on such masters as Picasso, Chagall and Li Mao-sheng. The focus of the Yat-sen Gallery is on national arts such as calligraphy and landscape painting. The De Ming Gallery is a place for various private artistic groups to put on shows of their work.

The two large reading rooms at the Sun Yat-sen Library are excellent places to study or to just relax and browse through numerous magazines and newspapers provided for the general public. This library also has a collection of more than 300,000 volumes of material regarding the philosophy and political theory of Dr. Sun himself.

The audiovisual center has a big collection of laser discs and tapes of geographic and cultural material from around the world. At special times there is also a changing of the guards near the large bronze statue of Dr. Sun.

Finally, the large park surrounding the building is a popular place for the people of Taipei City to relax. On holidays and weekends, crowds can be seen here flying kites, roller-blading, playing badminton, and jogging.

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is located in Taipei City's Renai Road. Visitors can take the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) network and get off at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station.