A bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen stands in the Kiang Wu Hospital. [Photo by Sun Junjun]

The "Five Artists' Exhibition", which brought together works by various artists from Guangdong and Macao, was on display last month in a memorial house of Sun Yat-sen in Macao.

"Displaying my art works here is the realization of my long-cherished wish," said Zhang Yulian, one of the invited artists and a designer from Zhongshan.

Zhongshan and Macao are linked by rivers and mountains. Since the mid-19th century, the integration of Chinese and Western cultures in Macao has had a profound influence on Zhongshan.

Sun Yat-sen was one of the figures who had a close relationship with Macao, where he began to admire western natural and social sciences and went global from. Sun shifted from "healing the people" to "saving the country", and Macao became an important stage for him to carry out his revolutionary activities.

Now, Sun's relics are scattered in Macao. Guided by the significant planning of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Zhongshan and Macao will develop closer communication.

Kiang Wu Hospital, located not far from Ruins of St. Paul's, the most notable landmark in Macao, was the place Sun Yat-sen initially made a figure of himself in Macao. A bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen now stands at the entrance to the hospital.

In 1892, Sun Yat-sen graduated from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese with an excellent academic performance. He was then appointed as Director of the Western Medicine Department in the Kiang Wu Hospital, and he became the first employed Western-style doctor of this Chinese medicine hospital. With superb medical skills, Sun was recognized by the local people, and this laid the early stages of social foundation for his revolutionary activities.

In recent years, Macao, taking advantage of a close relationship with Sun Yat-sen's hometown, has had frequent exchanges with Zhongshan in mining Sun Yat-sen culture. For example, the Macau Zhongshan Junior Chamber of Commerce has signed a cooperation agreement with the Sun Yat-sen Research Institute to jointly promote Sun Yat-sen culture.