Visitors to Taiwan who have been to the mainland could be forgiven for feeling confused when they see the names of some of the major roads and buildings on the island. Many are the same as those across the Taiwan Strait.
Stretching from north to south in the bustling city centre of Taipei is a boulevard named 'Zhongshan' after Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China.
Crossing Zhongshan, from the east to west, visitors may come across three principal roads - running parallel to each other - bearing the names of the late revolutionary leader's political philosophy or 'Three People's Principles'. The streets are minzu (nationalism), minquan (democracy) and minsheng (people's livelihood).
As well as roads, there are monuments, schools, parks and other structures in the 390-odd townships, counties and cities in Taiwan named either after Sun, who was educated in the United States and Hong Kong, or his Three People's Principles.
Travellers will also see the names used in numerous places on the mainland, including Beijing, Nanjing , Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Such tributes show the great esteem in which Sun is held by the authorities on the mainland and in Taiwan. Sun's 1911 revolution led to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the first Chinese republic.
The Kuomintang continued to honour Sun after defeat by the Communists at the end of the civil war in 1949 and its leaders' flight to Taiwan, where they set up what was originally intended to be an interim Republic of China government on the island.
