NATIONAL HERO

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 127, 3 June 1929, Page 9

NATIONAL HERO

CHINA AND SUN VAT SEN

WORLD PAYS HOMAGE

INTERMENT AT NANKING

United Press Association—By Electric Telt- ( . graph—Copyright. Australian Press Association. SHANGHAI, Ist June. There were colourful, impressiv* scenes on the Purple Mountain, Nanking, to-day, when the four-year-old corpse of Sun Vat Sen, father of the Chinese Eepublic, was deposited in a specially-built mausoleum on the summit of the mountain, which was the scene of the decisive battle in the final stages of the revolution of 1911. It is conservatively estimated that 200,000 people attended the interment services, including, it is believed, the greatest aggregation of foreign diplomats, special envoys, and Press representatives ever jointly assembled in the history of China; FOREIGN TRIBUTE. Eighteen foreign nations were officially represented, the representatives being headed by the Dutch Minister, the doyen of the diplomatic body, Jonkheer Orlendjik, who delivered a statement on behalf of his colleagues. He voiced the profound respect and sympathy felt by the Powers represented for China's deceased revolutionary leader. He concluded by hoping that China forever would be unified. To-day's interment culminates five days' intense national mourning. The corpse's journey from the Astern. Hills of the Pekin district, where it has rested since death, was majjt&jl, with the most impressive funeral scSni&g. ever beheld in Far Eastern history^sinq;passing the solemnity and grandejui*ii>i. the funerals of Emperors and VEjiapresses before the Revolution. IMPRESSIVE SCENES. The casket was deposited in a huge dome in the centre of the mausoleum, to the accompaniment of the'bustle and excitement of a vast native assemblage. A salute of 101 guns was fired. A conspicuous feature of the proceedings was the homage paid by foreign representatives. The Nanking waterfront recalled the stirring days of the Revolution. Dozens of foreign intermingled with the Chinese and Japanese warships moored inshore, all half-masted, and many acting as hotels for the respective national delegates.