A statue of Sun Yat-sen created by renowned sculptor Wu Weishan, who is also the curator of the National Art Museum of China, was erected on Sunday (Nov 12) at the former residence of Keiichiro Yasukawa in Kitakyushu City in Japan's southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka.

Yasukawa, founder of Yaskawa Electric Corporation and the Meiji College of Technology (current Kyushu Institute of Technology), had offered financial support to Sun's revolutionary activities in his early years. In 1913, Sun visited Yasukawa's house during a trip to Kitakyushu City and presented a calligraphy "World Peace" as a gift.

Noting that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Lyu Guijun, consul general of China in Fukuoka, said at the ceremony that Sun's "revisit" to this place after 110 years and his permanent presence here will help promote the understanding of the history of friendly exchanges between China and Japan, as well as the Chinese art in the Japanese society.

Reviewing the story of Japanese people supporting Sun's revolutionary activities is of great significance to promoting exchanges between Fukuoka Prefecture and Kitakyushu City with China, solidifying the belief in China-Japan friendship, facilitating the implementation of the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and building China-Japan relations in the new era, Lyu said.

Mayor of Kitakyushu Kazuhisa Takeuchi said Director Wu is from China's Jiangsu Province, which has been in a prefecture-province friendship relationship with Fukuoka Prefecture for more than 30 years, adding that the completion of the statue of Sun marks the friendly exchanges between the two places.