The Hong Kong government plans to repair an old local building and turn it into a Sun Yat-sen Museum, a government press release said Monday.

Kom Tong Hall, which was acquired by the government last year for 53 million HK dollars (US$6.8 million), will undergo facelift of 91 million HK dollars (US$11.7 million) to become the museum.

The Home Affairs Bureau aims to complete conversion works by the end of 2006, pending Legislative Council funding approval, to tie in with the 140th anniversary of the birth of Dr Sun, the father of modern China who studied and nurtured his revolutionary ideas in Hong Kong.

The museum is expected to be fully opened to the public in 2007, and will include a permanent exhibition on Dr Sun's life and revolutionary career with special reference to the political and socio-economic conditions of Hong Kong in the late 19th century. Exhibition galleries and interactive, reading and video rooms will house a host of activities and information.

Government officers have visited museums in mainland cities as Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou and archives in London and found a wealth of important artifacts related to Dr Sun. There will be negotiations for their display in Hong Kong.

A collection campaign was held last year to draw artifacts related to Dr Sun and other revolutionaries. A few hundred items of calligraphy, manuscripts, letters, souvenirs, stamps and banknotes were collected for display in the museum.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2005)