The “Presentation Ceremony of the Ten Celebrities of Lingnan Culture” was held in Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall yesterday. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was selected as one of the “Ten Celebrities of Lingnan Culture” on the ground that he ranked the first among the “three giants who stood in the forefront of the time, that he was an outstanding patriot and national hero, a pioneer of the democratic revolution in China and that he was a great figure who promoted the Chinese culture to change from traditional Chinese culture to the modern one.

The selection began in Dec, 2010, based on the selection of experts and that of the network. The criteria included cultural distinctiveness, cultural influences, cultural disseminativeness, cultural figure and uniqueness, distinctiveness, landmark, etc. During a period of 8 months, ten celebrities were nominated and made public. This event aimed at taking full advantage of the deeply rooted cultural resources of Guangdong, fostering the cultural brand of Guangdong, improving the cultural image of Guangdong, and making the Lingnan Culture known in the country and in the world.

Other 9 celebrities include Cantonese dishes, Cantonese opera, Cantonese music, arcade building, the site of Huangpu Military Academy, ink-slabs made in Duanxi, watchtower in Kaiping, Guangzhou Fair and Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch.