As China marks the 160th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth, a walk through Honolulu reveals the schools, streets and memorials that connect the revolutionary to Hawaii in the U.S. and the overseas Chinese community that helped shape his political career.
As his 160th birth anniversary approaches on November 12, 2026, Honolulu offers a chance to retrace his footsteps and explore a chapter of his life shaped by education, migration and political ambition.
A Schoolboy in a Changing Hawaii
In 1879, aged 13, Sun Yat-sen travelled from Guangdong to Hawaii to join his elder brother, Sun Mei. He enrolled at Iolani School in Honolulu, where he studied English and Western subjects, graduating in 1882. He briefly attended Oahu College, now Punahou School, before returning to China in 1883.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park in Honolulu's Chinatown
Hawaii was then an independent kingdom, not yet part of the United States. Its population included Native Hawaiians, immigrants from Asia and people of European descent, while its economy was increasingly tied to international trade and sugar production. For a teenager from a village in southern China, the experience offered an early encounter with a society very different from his own.
A memorial park in Honolulu's Chinatown commemorates these formative years. An inscription there records Sun's own words: "This is my Hawaii... here I was brought up and educated; and it was here that I came to know what modern, civilized governments are like and what they mean."
Chinatown and the Making of a Movement
From the memorial park, a walk through Chinatown leads to another statue, this time depicting an adult Sun holding the declaration of the Revive China Society, known in Chinese as the Xingzhonghui (兴中会).
Located at the Chinese Cultural Plaza, the statue was donated by the people of Kaohsiung, Taiwan Province, in 1984 to mark the 90th anniversary of the society's founding.
The Sun Yat-sen statue located in Honolulu's Chinatown
On November 24, 1894, Sun and his supporters established the Revive China Society in Honolulu at Chinese merchant Ho Fon's home. The organisation sought to overthrow the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and revive China. It marked an important step towards the revolutionary movement that would culminate in the 1911 Revolution.
The original meeting place, near Emma Lane and Queen Emma Street, has long since disappeared. The houses associated with the founding meeting were demolished in the 1960s, leaving visitors to reconstruct the scene from historical records rather than surviving buildings.
The 1900 Chinatown fire destroyed large areas of the district, while later changes erased other landmarks. What remains is a patchwork of memorials, street addresses and archival photographs.
The Hawaiian Connections that Shaped Sun Yat-sen
Retracing Sun Yat-sen's footsteps through Honolulu means piecing together a history whose buildings have largely disappeared. During his final visit to Hawaii in 1910, he stayed above a shop at 177 King Street and worked with supporters at the office of the Chinese-language newspaper Liberty News on North Hotel Street. In April, he helped organise the Honolulu branch of the Tongmenghui, or the Chinese United League, strengthening the revolutionary movement among overseas Chinese.
Many of Sun's supporters came from Guangdong, part of a wider migrant community that had established itself in Hawaii through plantation work and commerce. His elder brother, Sun Mei, provided financial support, while other Chinese residents contributed to the cause.
The Sun Yat-sen statue at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport
The trail also leads to Maui, where Sun Mei ran a cattle ranch in Kula. Family members lived there for several years, and Sun visited during his trips to Hawaii. Though the original ranch buildings are gone, Sun Yat-sen Park in Keokea commemorates the family's connection to the island. Together, these sites reveal a more personal side of Sun's story, linking revolutionary history with migration, family and the enduring ties between Hawaii and Guangdong.
A Living Link Between Hawaii and Guangdong
Today, the ties between Hawaii and Guangdong extend beyond shared history. Honolulu and Zhongshan, Sun Yat-sen's birthplace, became sister cities in 1997, opening the way for exchanges in culture, education, healthcare and trade.
A street corner scene in Honolulu's Chinatown
One tangible link is the partnership between Punahou School, where Sun studied, and Zhongshan's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Secondary School. Their collaboration has included student music performances, bringing young people from the two cities together across the Pacific.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii continues to organise cultural activities that keep Chinese traditions alive in the islands. More than a century after Sun crossed the ocean to pursue revolution, the connections he embodied continue through schools, community organisations and people-to-people exchange.
Author | Feng Huiting
Photos | Feng Huiting
