I want to go Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
Extracted from www.wanqingyuan.com.sg
Wan Qing Yuan(晚 晴园) was built in late 19th Century. The villa was bought by rubber magnate Teo Eng Hock for his mother, Mdm Tan Poh Neo. A fervent supporter of the Chinese revolutionary cause, Teo Eng Hock later offered the place to Dr Sun for his revolutionary activities in February 1906. After the success of the 1911 Revolution, Wan Qing Yuan was subsequently entrusted to the then Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce (now Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, SCCCI).
In December 1964, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce revamped the villa to commemorate Dr Sun and his revolutionary movement. The project was completed in 1965 and the villa became Dr Sun Yat Sen Villa.
After Dr Sun Yat Sen Villa was gazetted a national monument in 1994 by the Preservation of Monuments Board, the SCCCI renamed the villa as Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in 1996 to trace Dr Sun’s revolutionary activities in the Southeast Asian region. A subsidiary company, Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Co Ltd, was set up in 1997 to spearhead the restoration project.
A restoration team was formed under the initiative of Mr Kwek Leng Joo, Immediate Past President of SCCCI. Led by Mr Kwek personally and comprising five committees sharing the same vision, the team planned and implemented over four years to transform the villa into a memorial hall.
After four years of restoration works and funding amounting more than $8 million, the Memorial Hall was completed in October 2001. On 12 November 2001, it was officially opened by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
