Situated at No
215 Culture Road, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province -- now the Guangdong Provincial Museum
-- the site for the First Congress of the KMT includes the belfry and the
Revolutionary Square located in the front.
It was a place for provincial imperial
examinations in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and after the Revolution of 1911,
it became the Guangdong Higher Normal School. Since the first Congress of the
KMT in 1924, it had been rebuilt as the Guangdong University by the order of Sun Yat-sen. In
1926, it was renamed "Zhongshan
University."
The belfry was built in 1905, with an area of 2,888 square
meters. It is a building of a post and panel structure in both Chinese and
western styles, resembling the Chinese character "
" from an bird's view. In the
front of the building is a clock tower about 24 meters high, covered by a dome,
which formerly included clocks on each side. Behind it is a rectangular
two-storey assembly hall where the first Congress of the KMT was held. Covering
an area of 18,698 square meters, the Revolutionary
Square, located in front of the belfry, was then an
important site for the people's congregation. During the first Congress of the
KMT, Sun Yat-sen delivered speeches there publicizing the new Three Principles
of the People.
Influenced by the October Revolution and
with the help of the International Communist, as well as the Communist Party of
China (CPC) who were determined to reshuffle the KMT from January 20-30, 1924,
Sun Yat-sen presided over the First National Representatives' Conference of the
Kuomingtang of China in the auditorium on the first floor of the clock tower of
the Guangdong Higher Normal School. The conference absorbed the CPC's
proposition of opposing imperialism and feudalism, developed the old Three
Principles of the People to the new ones and reshuffled the KMT into a
revolutionary union of worker, farmer, the petty bourgeoisie and national
bourgeoisie. The CPC also sent representatives to attend this conference. The
First National Representatives' Conference of KMT of China marked the beginning
of the first KMT-CPC cooperation, as well as the first Domestic Civil
War.