The Sun Yat-sen Surfboard: A Yank-China Tale

Folks, don't envision Sun Yat-sen cruisin' 'round in San Francisco, alright. He's more likely to be associated with Canton, though it's Guangzhou these days. Nonetheless, since 1937, a bronze image of this global fella has been catchin' waves in San Francisco, sculpted by Beniamino Bufano and plonked in Saint Mary's Square. This statue wasn't a diplomatic present from China to the Yanks, but a commission from the Chinese government to Bufano in 1935, completed in 1936, and officially displayed in 1937. At first, it stood in Washington D.C, but a shift in 1960 moved it to Frisco as a gift from the city during Mao Zedong's visit. Now it stands proud as a symbol of our shared history and an on-going flirtation between our two nations.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons