Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

The story

Sun Yat-sen, a doctor from Guangdong, spent years abroad raising money for revolution against the Qing (1644–1912). After the uprising of 1911 he was proclaimed provisional president of the new Republic of China in Nanjing in January 1912. He died in Beijing on 12 March 1925, asking to be buried on Purple Mountain, where he had once gone hunting.

A design competition was won by the 31-year-old architect Lü Yanzhi, whose plan, seen from above, has the shape of a bell, a call to wake the nation. The tomb was built from 1926 to 1929, and on 1 June 1929 Sun's coffin was brought from Beijing and laid here in a state funeral.

What is here

The mausoleum itself is free but must be booked; other sights of Purple Mountain charge separately or on a combined ticket.

If you have one minute

At the top of the 392 steps

Climb the broad white stairs to the sacrificial hall, roofed in blue tiles. Over its three doors are carved the four characters of Sun's ideal, "All under heaven belongs to the people", and inside sits his marble statue, made in Paris by Paul Landowski. Behind it, in a round chamber, lies his recumbent figure over the grave.

Then turn round. From the top, the steps are hidden by their landings and you see only flat platforms descending to the forest, and Nanjing beyond.

Things people often get wrong

"You can visit the tomb chamber." The crypt has been closed to visitors; the public area ends at the sacrificial hall.

"It is a Ming (1368–1644) tomb." It is a 20th-century work in reinforced concrete and granite, built in Chinese style; the Ming founder's tomb is a kilometre to the west.

People who stood here

We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English and French ones.

• Sun Yat-sen (revolutionary, 1866–1925)He chose Purple Mountain for his grave and was buried here in 1929.
• Lü Yanzhi (architect, 1894–1929)The Cornell-trained architect who designed the mausoleum; he died of cancer at 35, a few months before it was finished.
• Song Qingling (stateswoman, 1893–1981)Sun's widow came from Moscow for the state funeral of 1929 and walked behind the coffin up the steps.
• Paul Landowski (sculptor, 1875–1961)The French sculptor who made the seated statue in the hall; he also made the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
• Lien Chan (politician, born 1936)In 2005, as chairman of the Kuomintang, he paid his respects here, the first visit by a party chairman since 1949.

Go deeper: from the Bo'ai Arch to the Music Stage, five stops6 stops · about 1 min to read

The walk from the arch to the hall is about 700 metres and 392 steps; it takes an hour up and down.

1. The Bo'ai Arch

A granite archway carved with Sun's motto "Universal love", at the start of the avenue.

2. The avenue and the gate

A tree-lined avenue to the triple-arched gate, inscribed "All under heaven belongs to the people".

3. The stele pavilion

A great stone tablet inscribed: "The Kuomintang of China buries the Premier, Mr Sun, here", dated 1 June 1929.

4. The sacrificial hall

Under a coffered ceiling, Landowski's statue and, carved on the walls, Sun's "Fundamentals of National Reconstruction".

5. The Music Stage

An open-air amphitheatre of 1932 in front of a curved screen wall, built for ceremonies and concerts; pigeons gather on its lawn.

The tomb and the same years elsewhere

Sun Yat-sen was buried here in June 1929; in October the Wall Street Crash began the Great Depression.