Taiwan, mainland hold seminar on Sun Yat-sen

Taiwan and the Chinese mainland have held a joint seminar on Sun Yat-sen and his wife Madame Soong Ching Ling in Taipei. The seminar, held at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on Sunday in Taipei, was organized by the mainland-based China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and the Taiwan-based Sun Yat-sen Cultural Foundation. Six scholars from the mainland and nine from Taiwan submitted a total of 11 research papers on Sun and Soong. Extensive discussions on subjects relating to the couple were held. Qi Mingqiu, vice chairman of the Soong Ching Ling foundation, said that the seminar marked a "historic moment" as it was the first time for the mainland and Taiwan to jointly hold such an event. The former residence of Soong in downtown Beijing was repurposed as a public memorial site and museum after she passed away in 1981. It holds many historical items. Qi invited scholars from Taiwan to visit the residence as part of efforts to deepen cross-Strait exchange on academic research on Sun and Soong. Hsu Shui-te, chief of the Sun Yat-sen foundation, said that both Taiwan and the mainland had witnessed economic prosperity, in line with Sun's ideals. He called on the two sides to "join hands in creating a better future for the Chinese nation."