MEMORIAL SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 61, 14 March 1927, Page 10

MEMORIAL SERVICE

LONDON'S KUOMINTANG REMAEKABLE GATHERING (United Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 14th March, 2 p.m.) ■ LONDON, 13th March. A remarkable memorial service, on the occasion of the second anniversary of Sun Vat Sen's death was held in the stately rooms?of the Chinese Legation at Portland Place, .the same building where Lord Salisbury in. 1899 secured Sun Vat Sen's release when he was a prisoner ordered to' be deported to China, The service was the first of its kind in London, organised by members of the Chinese Kuomintang in Britain. The Chinese Minister did not attend, and it was explained that the promoters had not sought a loan of the Legation for the meeting, the Kuomintang: simply allowing the Legation officials to conduct it in trust "for the future masters, Cantonese Government." The service was attended by a hundred Chinese, keen intellectual students, as% well as cooks and sailors in rough clothes. They reclined on gilded chairs, and smoked 1 cigarettes continually. ■■..••■ ■ Revolutionary flags ■ surrounded a large picture of Sun Vat ■. Sen. to which silent tribute wasa paid. by bowing thrice. Mr. George Lansbury, M.P., Professor Smith, of Hong Kong University, and Mr. Fugimera, ah official of the Japanese Embassy, made speeches. Mr.. Lansbury declared that our record in China for the past half-century was so disgusting and disgraceful that he felt honoured that any Britishers were allowed to attend. He regretted that British workers had not been strong enough to. stop the dispatch of troops to China. Mr. Fugimera declared that he was proud to see the new China. „He'hoped eventually that Japan and China would become one economic and political unit. . ■■'■■■■.' The service opened with the Chinese National Anthem and closed with "The International."