"Sun Yat-sen Statue on HKU Campus"

Eighty years ago, on a sunny morning in the Spring of 1923, Dr Sun Yat-sen visited The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and had a close encounter with students of HKU. It was on this historic occasion that he remarked, "Hong Kong and The University of Hong Kong are my intellectual birthplace."

This statement underlines the events and endeavours that Sun Yat-sen, Hong Kong and the University have gone through in the past eighty years.

Sun Yat-sen received a modern education in Hong Kong. He was among the first graduates of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, which was the predecessor of the HKU Faculty of Medicine.

HKU was founded in 1911, bringing higher education in Hong Kong into a new era. In the same year, the great Chinese Revolution broke out. The feudal imperial monarchy in China, with a history of two thousand years, was overthrown. Sun Yat-sen led China into a new epoch.

The historical giant, trailing his slender shadow, strode past the age of heroic events, and also brushed past every brick and stone of the Main Building. The Main Building symbolises the cultural interflow between China and the West, witnesses the progress of history, and preserves that 1923 visit as part of the University's perpetual memory, guarding the University's mission: "The University of Hong Kong for China".

The tradition has to be sustained and the story should continue. We have always wished to erect a statue of Sun Yat-sen on campus, so that this great man could stay at HKU and students could follow this historic footprints.

The founding of the Sun Yat-sen memorial statue has now completed. The statue will sit beside the Lily Pond, surrounded by green lawns fragrant with lily blossoms, situated at the heart of the campus. The statue will add new meaning to the campus.

The statue shows Sun Yat-sen as he looked when he visited HKU in 1923, at the age of 56. He made a public lecture in the Great Hall (now Loke Yew Hall) at the invitation of the HKU Students' Union. Dressed in Chinese long gown and mandarin jacket, he looked vigorous and personable, with the air of a senior scholar. Therefore, Sun Yat-sen will be seen as an elderly gentleman strolling on the University campus, carrying a walking stick, as if telling those around him, "This is my campus."

"讓偉人身影燃亮港大"

八十年前，1923 年春天一個晴朗的早上，國父孫中山先生訪問香港大學，與港大學生近距離接觸。就在這一次歷史性聚會中，他公開說過：「香港與香港大學乃我知識之誕生地。」

也就是這一句話，印記著八十年來的滄海桑田，把孫中山、香港和香港大學一併拉進了歷史，激勵了幾代人的奮鬥精神。

孫中山在香港接受現代教育，是香港西醫書院的第一屆畢業生。香港西醫書院後來合併於香港大學醫學院，成為香港歷史最悠久的醫學教育機構。因此，孫中山亦理所當然地成為香港大學最卓越的校友之一。

香港大學於1911年創立，把香港高等教育帶進了新時代；同年，辛亥革命爆發，推翻了中國二千年封建帝制，孫中山把中國帶進了新的世代。

因此，我們一直希望能在校園中為孫中山豎立紀念像，令這位歷史偉人長留香港大學，讓大學生踵隨他的歷史足跡。

現在孫中山紀念銅像的鑄造已經竣工，銅像將豎立於校園中心的荷花池畔。荷花池綠草如茵、荷香飄送，曾是港大學生最愛勾留的地方。今天的荷花池是個雅緻而不造作的小園地，新一代的學生可以在銅像旁的草地上，思索人生的藍圖，聆聽歷史的足音。

孫中山像由香港大學多位教授與專家監督製作，北京中央美術學院司徒兆光教授鑄造，前後歷時三年。

銅像造型設計，選擇了1923年孫中山訪問港大時樣貌為藍本，孫中山時年五十六歲。當日他應港大學生會邀請，在陸佑堂作公開演講。身穿唐裝馬褂的他，精神奕奕，和藹可親，表現了一派學長前輩的風範。所以，我們把孫中山塑作成有如在校園蹓躂的長者，持著手杖，便服輕裝，彷彿在告訴旁人：
「這是我的校園。」

這也是校友孫中山給我們的印象。

The Sun Yat-sen Statue project is supervised by a number of professors and specialists of The University of Hong Kong. The casting is by Professor Situ Zhaoguang of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, taking a total period of three years to complete. Professor Situ, whose native place is Kaiping in Guangdong Province, was born in Hong Kong. He was educated in Hong Kong in his early years, and actually lived in the vicinity of The University of Hong Kong. The HKU campus was a place he would always visit after school everyday. Later he moved to reside in Mainland China and became a sculptor of international renown. This bronze statue is thus created in the hands of a master from Hong Kong. It also signifies HKU's collaboration for the first time with the Central Academy of Fine Arts.