Chinese Hero Hopes His Plinth Will Come

The Age

Tuesday August 5, 2008

Kate Lahey City Reporter

A STATUE of a Chinese revolutionary hero planned for Melbourne's Chinatown has come under fire from some councillors, who say the founder of the Kuomintang nationalist party does not belong in the city's public space.

Members of Melbourne's Chinese community want to erect the 3.7-metre bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen, whose pro-democracy ideals, they say, unite and educate people.

A majority of Melbourne councillors have voted to approve the statue for Cohen Place Plaza, though it still requires a planning permit.

Sun died in 1925. He is revered as the father of modern China for his role in overthrowing the Qing dynasty to became the first provisional president of the Republic of China.

The secretary-general of the Federation of Indo-China Ethnic Chinese Associations of Australia, Stan Chang, said the statue would cost between $200,000 and $250,000 and the Chinese community would fund it.

Sun's beliefs were much in line with present democratic and human rights principles, he said.

But Greens councillor Fraser Brindley said that although Sun was an admirable figure he could not support the statue because it did not reflect Melbourne's Chinese history. "We're talking about making a decision about what happens in public space here," Cr Brindley said. "We need to recognise the history of Chinatown at this site."

Cr Peter Clarke shared Cr Brindley's concerns. "As I understand it, he (Sun) never visited Australia, indeed never visited Melbourne," Cr Clarke said.

He said Melbourne had no statues of former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev despite having a Russian community.

Chinese Museum deputy chairman Mark Wang said Melbourne's Chinese in the early 1900s raised money for Sun's cause. "We had a relationship with the movement," he said.

© 2008 The Age

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