Not many Chinese cities have witnessed as much of the country's turbulent history as Nanjing has over the past two hundred years. As the former capital of the Kuomintang, or the KMT regime, the history of the party's rule on the mainland was written in Nanjing. It also houses the remains of the party's founding father, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.

At the start of the 20th century, with the collapse of the corrupt Qing Dynasty and the rise of the Kuomintang, Nanjing became the political center of China.

Zhang Xinwen, director, Center of History of ROC, Nanjing Uni., said, "After China's 1911 revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Nanjing was made the capital of the new Republic of China."

The 1911 revolution was a critical stage in China's history because it overthrew the corrupt Qing Dynasty and ended more than 2000 years of feudalism. Establishing a new regime, Dr. Sun Yat-sen wanted a democratic government for China.

Feng Jinchao, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, said, "The building behind me is where Dr. Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as the provisional president of the Republic of China in 1912. He stayed and worked here in the Nanjing Presidential Palace for 3 months before he resigned."

However, the revolution was no easy task and the new republic did not have control of the whole country. After Dr. Sun's resignation, the capital was changed to Beijing.

Zhang said, "The success of the revolution was seized by warlords who wanted to be new emperors. Dr. Sun kept fighting for democracy till the end of his life in 1925."

In 1927, two years after Sun Yat-sen died, the Kuomintang reached the height of its power in China. Once again, Nanjing became the capital of China. And Dr. Sun Yat-sen's remains were moved to Nanjing. The Kuomintang built a mausoleum in memory of its founding father.

Zhang said, "It's not just the Kuomintang that respects Dr. Sun. All the Chinese people worship him because he devoted his whole life to fighting for the country."

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's death. After almost a century, the spirit of this pioneer of the Chinese revolution still inspires the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to continue to fight together for a prosperous, democratic and reunified China.

Editor: Yan