Dr. Sun Yat-sen

The statue and the plaque of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in front of Chinatown center in the Old Chinatown

Dr. Sun is perhaps the only leader in the recent Chinese history who is equally respected both in mainland China and in Taiwan. He was the first president of the Republic of China after overthrowing of the Qing dynasty in 1911 revolution. 

In Taiwan, he is respected as the ‘Father of the Nation’ who established democracy in place of Qing monarchy while in mainland China he is seen as a nationalist and a proto-socialist whose struggles culminated in the communist revolution later.

Besides that, he is also considered as one of the three saints in the Vietnamese Caodaism religion along with the 19th-century French novelist Victor Hugo and a Vietnamese poet and sage Nguyen Binh Khiem.