Mayor Mufi Hannemann will attend the 10 a.m. event at the corner of Hotel and Bethel streets, along with representatives of the Zhongshan municipal government, the Chinese counsel general from Los Angeles. They will be joined by leaders of the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Hawaii Foundation, the statue's sculptor, and students from Iolani and Punahou schools, which Sun attended as a youth growing up in Hawai'i.

Ten years ago, then-Councilmember Hannemann co-authored the City Council resolution establishing the sister-city relationship with Zhongshan. During his Asia trip last month, the mayor visited Zhongshan and personally invited municipal officials to attend the dedication ceremony. The Zhongshan delegation will be led by Vice Mayor Feng Yurong. Chinese Consul General Zhang Yun is expected to arrive from Los Angeles to attend the ceremony.

This salute to Sun is one of the mayor's top 10 initiatives that came out of his Chinatown Summit last year. The mayor met with more than 350 Chinatown stakeholders in June 2006 at the Hawaii Theatre to discuss how to revitalize Chinatown.

Warren K.K. Luke, chairman of the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Hawaii Foundation, is scheduled to speak. The foundation paid for the bronze statue and its installation, and donated it to the City. Sculpted by Master Chu Tat-shing of Hong Kong, the statue depicts Sun as a 13-year old boy, the age when he came to Hawaii in 1879. The statue is 71 inches tall and weighs 882 pounds.

Students in Iolani School's Tam & Young Quartet will perform before the ceremony from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Later in the ceremony, students from Iolani and Punahou schools will pay tribute.

Sun was born Nov. 12, 1866, in Xiangshan County (now Zhongshan City) in south China's Guangdong Province. He spent more than seven years in Hawai'i.