The Memory of the Two Cities, a photography exhibition about Chinese revolutionist Sun Yat-sen, is held in Honolulu on Nov 12 in memory of his 150th birthday. Yan Dongjie / China Daily

Sun Yat-sen is one of China's greatest historical figures, and the time he spent overseas played a major role in his patriotic pursuits.

Sun came to Hawaii for college when he was 14, and Hawaii was considered the place where he developed his revolutionary ideals, said Wang Wei, a researcher from the Nanjing Municipal Government of China.

Overseas Chinese celebrated the 150th birthday of the revolutionary leader in Honolulu on Saturday.

Sun was a patriot and national hero, considered the pioneer of the Chinese democratic revolution. He led the revolt of 1911, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and put an end to China's feudal monarchy after more than 2,000 years.

The China Overseas Exchange Association and Sun Yat-sen 150th Anniversary Hawaii Commemoration Organizing Committee co-organized the commemoration, which includes a history photography exhibition Memory of the Two Cities and the US premiere of the documentary Sun Yat-sen and Overseas Chinese, produced by China Central Television for this anniversary.

"The exhibition is a review of the history of Nanjing and Guangzhou, the two important bases in China of Sun's, in memory of the great revolutionist," said Wang.

"Overseas Chinese are the mother of the revolution," Sun Yat-sen once said, as he received widespread support from them during his pursuit of national revitalization.

Sun established Xingzhonghui, the Revive China Society, in Honolulu in 1894, a revolutionary organization aiming to "save people from mire and fire and raise the country that was about to fail apart".

The first 20-plus members of the Revive China Society were overseas Chinese, as were the majority of the members of Tongmenghui, the Chinese United League, according to the exhibition.

"When we talk about Sun Yat-sen, we all know that he was a revolutionist, but people usually forget his identity as an overseas Chinese," said Zhu Bo, director of the documentary, adding that overseas Chinese contributed a lot to the revolutionary history in China.

The production of the six-episode documentary took nearly one year; 150 people were interviewed, including Sun experts and overseas Chinese, which involved more than 170 working staff.

Zhu said that the documentary has been shown in China, Europe, Africa, Australia, Singapore, and now the US.

Sun died of liver cancer at age 58 on March 12, 1925.

"Reading all the history and cultures that I didn't know before, I feel that Sun brought up China like a father brings up his son," said Ou Zhaohua, a student at Minlun School in Honolulu, who was born in the same village as Sun in Guangdong.

yandongjie@chinadaily.com.cn