Sun Yat-sen Museum

19th-century shophouse where Sun Yat-sen plotted the 1911 Chinese revolution

The Sun Yat-sen Museum on Armenian Street occupies the small 19th-century shophouse where the Chinese revolutionary leader lived and worked during his time in Penang from 1909 to 1911. From this base he ran a Penang chapter of the Tongmenghui — his anti-Qing revolutionary alliance — published a propaganda newspaper, gave fundraising speeches, and held the secret Penang Conference of November 1910 that planned the Second Guangzhou Uprising.

The shophouse has been restored to roughly its turn-of-the-century appearance and now houses displays on Sun Yat-sen's life, his five visits to Penang, and the role of the overseas Chinese community in financing the Republican revolution. The original meeting room with Sun's desk has been recreated. The labels are in Chinese and English; the volunteer guides are well informed and speak good English on request. Allow 45 minutes. The Hokkien and Cantonese diaspora played an outsized role in modern Chinese history, and this small museum tells the story well.

things to do museum architecture
A story
On 13 November 1910, Sun Yat-sen convened a secret meeting in this house with overseas Chinese revolutionaries from across Southeast Asia. The 'Penang Conference' raised the money and planned the failed Second Guangzhou Uprising of April 1911 — which, despite its defeat, became the prelude to the successful Wuchang Uprising six months later that ended 2,000 years of imperial rule.