Lien Chan, chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China, stands in silence before the statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen at the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province April 27, 2005. Lien Chan led his delegation to pay a formal visit here on Wednesday. It is the first time that the top leader of the party paid tribute to the Mausoleum of the KMT founder since the party lost a civil war and fled to the island province of Taiwan in 1949. (Xinhua Photo)

    NANJING, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The visiting Kuomingtang (KMT) delegation headed by KMT Chairman Lien Chan arrived at the imposing Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) at around 8:50 a.m. on Wednesday in east China's Nanjing city.

Chairman Lien Chan (L, front) of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China shows his autograph for the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing, capital of east China¡¯s Jiangsu Province April 27, 2005.(Xinhua Photo)

Chairman Lien Chan (C, front) of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China and his wife Fang Yu (2nd L, front) visit the Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing, capital of east China¡¯s Jiangsu Province April 27, 2005. .(Xinhua Photo)

    It is the first time that the top leader of the party paid tribute to the Mausoleum of the KMT founder since the party lost acivil war and fled to the island province of Taiwan in 1949.

    Lien was accompanied to the Mausoleum by his 60-member entourage.

    On March 12, 1925, the revolutionary forerunner died of illness in Beijing and, in 1929, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum was built in Nanjing at his behest. A grandiose ceremony was held to place his remains in the mausoleum. Since 1949, the Communist Party of China(CPC)-led Chinese government has paid top priority to the protection and maintenance of the mausoleum.

    Now capital of the coastal province of Jiangsu, Nanjing was once China's national capital when the country was under the rule of the KMT from the 1920s to 1940s.

    On Wednesday afternoon, the delegation was scheduled to visit the former presidential office during the KMT rule of China and the Confucius Temple, built in 1034 to consecrate and worship the ancient Chinese thinker and educator Confucius. Enditem

Lien: common prosperity paramount target

    NANJING, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan said in this east China city Wednesday morning it is an across-Straits aspiration to "continuously boost the Taiwan economy" and "further develop the mainland into a well-off society".

    In a speech delivered immediately after paying respects at the Mausoleum of the KMT founder Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1886-1925), Lien called the aspiration a goal that both sides at the Taiwan Straits should "strive to achieve in a peaceful and going-all-out mentality" against the backdrop of the current "stalemate" in cross-Straits relations.

    Calling Chinese jointly to strive for common prosperity, Lien said that "Chinese should hold their heads high in the 21st century."

    The KMT Chairman also lead a thank-you applaud for the "perfect protection" of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum conducted by local administration.

    Although security was tightened at the Mausoleum due to Lien's visit, the Mausoleum's administration did not ban common tourists from visiting the imposing site on Wednesday.

    Now the capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, Nanjing was once China's national capital when the country was under the rule of the KMT from 1920s to 1940s.

    At the invitation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and General Secretary Hu Jintao, Lien led a KMT delegation to visit the mainland cities of Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'anand Shanghai from April 26 to May 3.

    It is the first visit to the mainland by the top leader of the KMT since the party lost a civil war and fled to the island province of Taiwan in 1949. Enditem