The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is located within the Temple of Azure Clouds (Biyunsi) at the foot of the eastern slopes of Xiangshan (Fragrant Hill) park in the Western Hills, just over 10 kilometers from downtown Beijing.
The Temple of Azure Clouds is a Buddhist temple some 600 years old. It is comprised of four large halls, the innermost of which is now the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. Before 1949, the hall contained nothing more than a portrait of Sun Yat-sen (1862-1925) and it was not until 1954 that the government renovated the building and enlarged the display to its present form.
A bust of Sun Yat-sen stands opposite the main entrance to the hall. Immediately to its right is an empty coffin, covered in bronze and lined with glass, which was a gift from the government of the Soviet Union. Because it arrived two weeks after Sun Yat-sen? s remains had been entombed, this coffin was not used. On the left side of the hall is a display of letters and manuscripts left behind by Sun at his death. On the wall is a white marble inscription of a letter Sun Yat-sen addressed to the Soviet Union.
There are exhibition rooms on each side of the Memorial Hall. The first displays photographs of Sun Yat-sen in his youth and the second shows his activities during the period of democratic revolution.
Behind the Memorial Hall is the Pagoda Courtyard (Tayuan), which is shaded by pine trees. The Diamond Throne Pagoda was constructed in 1748 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and modeled after the Five-Pagoda Temple in the northwestern suburbs of the city. In March 1925, Sun Yat-sen? s coffin was temporarily placed inside the pagoda before being moved to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing on June 1, 1929. His clothes and other personal effects, however, were left behind inside the pagoda. In front of the pagoda stands a stone stela with an inscription by Hu Hanmin, a senior leader of the Kuomintang. The pagoda itself is 34.7 meters high and is built of large blocks of marble. The four sides of its base are carved with images of the Buddha. Above the terrace and surrounding the central pagoda there are seven miniature nine-story pagodas.
