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The Leisure and Cultural Services Department today (September 20) installed an information plaque at the unnamed grave of Mr Yeung Ku-wan in the Hong Kong Cemetery at Happy Valley, as part of the activities to commemorate the centenary of the 1911 Revolution and to enhance public understanding of both the revolutionary movement in the late Qing and Mr Yeung's life.
The information plaque, made of granite to blend in with the graveyard environment, was erected just beside the grave of Mr Yeung, serving as identification to enable the public to pay homage to him.
A native of Haicheng in Fujian Province, Mr Yeung (1861-1901) was born in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. He studied and worked in Hong Kong. Together with Mr Tse Tsan-tai and other friends, he founded Foo Yan Man Ser (Literary Society for the Promotion of Benevolence) in Pak Tsz Lane, Sheung Wan, in 1892. In 1895, when the Literary Society merged with the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society) founded by Dr Sun Yat-sen, Mr Yeung was elected president of the Hong Kong Hsing Chung Hui. In the same year, an uprising in Guangzhou was organised. It failed, however, and Mr Yeung fled overseas. He later took part in another uprising in Huizhou in 1900, which was also unsuccessful, and then he returned to Hong Kong. On January 10, 1901, at the first floor of 52 Gage Street, he was assassinated, killed by gunshots fired by agents sent by the Qing authorities. He was buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery on January 12, but the tombstone was left uninscribed for fear of desecration.
The location of Mr Yeung's grave has now been marked on the map of the Hong Kong Cemetery, which is on display at the entrance of the Cemetery's office. Copies of the map can be obtained from the Cemetery's office or downloaded from the webpage of the Antiquities and Monuments Office at www.amo.gov.hk/form/hk_cemetery_map(rev3b).pdf .
Ends/Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:29
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