⏰ The clock: museum is FREE, no booking, open 09:00–17:30 (last entry 17:00). Leave by 11:30–12:00 → standing in Cuiheng by ~14:00. Sunset ~17:55. Last comfortable bus home ~20:30–21:00.
🚌 GETTING THERE (~1h45 · ~¥80–105 one way)
1
Metro Line 1 from 高新园 Hi-Tech Park (by your hostel) → 前海湾 Qianhai Bay. Direct, ~15 min, ~¥4.
2
T01B cross-bridge bus 前海湾地铁站 → 中山国际人才港 (Ma'an Island, Cuiheng New Area). ¥15, ~45 min over the 深中通道 bridge-tunnel, every 15–20 min until 21:30.
💳 Alipay WORKS — field-tested 18 Oct 2026, 12:45 local: paid at the 人工窗口 at 前海湾地铁站总站 with Alipay, in person, no cash, no booking. 🏆 The official docs only list cash/WeChat — the staffed window takes the QR anyway. Just walk up and buy.
The paper rules, for reference: online = WeChat only. Officially the ticket is: online = WeChat only (「深巴出行」→ 深中公交 or 「深中跨市公交专线」 mini-program) · onsite = 人工窗口 paper ticket (refundable) or cash into the farebox 车辆钱箱投币 (non-refundable). No Alipay mini-program exists for the 深中 line. If you have no cash: ① buy in WeChat Pay before boarding (cleanest) ② try your Alipay 收款码 at the 人工窗口 — most staffed windows have a QR, just don't rely on it ③ pull ¥200–500 from a 工商/中国/建设银行 ATM (UnionPay logo, foreign cards fine) at the station before you ride.
🎫 YES — you can buy it in person. Guangdong transport's own line: 线下购票 = pay cash when you board (or at the staffed 人工窗口) at 前海湾地铁站总站. Bring a ¥20 note + coins; cash tickets can't be refunded. Online is optional: WeChat mini-program 「深巴出行」→ 深中公交. One catch — if that departure is sold out online you wait for the next bus with free seats, so on a busy day open the mini-program while you queue.
🚏 Board toward Zhongshan at 前海湾地铁站总站 (the bus terminus; the kerbside 前海湾地铁站 stop is drop-off only — 往深圳下客).
💳 Alipay WORKS — field-tested 18 Oct 2026, 12:45 local: paid at the 人工窗口 at 前海湾地铁站总站 with Alipay, in person, no cash, no booking. 🏆 The official docs only list cash/WeChat — the staffed window takes the QR anyway. Just walk up and buy.
The paper rules, for reference: online = WeChat only. Officially the ticket is: online = WeChat only (「深巴出行」→ 深中公交 or 「深中跨市公交专线」 mini-program) · onsite = 人工窗口 paper ticket (refundable) or cash into the farebox 车辆钱箱投币 (non-refundable). No Alipay mini-program exists for the 深中 line. If you have no cash: ① buy in WeChat Pay before boarding (cleanest) ② try your Alipay 收款码 at the 人工窗口 — most staffed windows have a QR, just don't rely on it ③ pull ¥200–500 from a 工商/中国/建设银行 ATM (UnionPay logo, foreign cards fine) at the station before you ride.
🎫 YES — you can buy it in person. Guangdong transport's own line: 线下购票 = pay cash when you board (or at the staffed 人工窗口) at 前海湾地铁站总站. Bring a ¥20 note + coins; cash tickets can't be refunded. Online is optional: WeChat mini-program 「深巴出行」→ 深中公交. One catch — if that departure is sold out online you wait for the next bus with free seats, so on a busy day open the mini-program while you queue.
🚏 Board toward Zhongshan at 前海湾地铁站总站 (the bus terminus; the kerbside 前海湾地铁站 stop is drop-off only — 往深圳下客).
3
DiDi the last 25 km to the museum. ~¥60–90, 25–35 min. (The ¥2 local bus 观光专线02 exists but runs only every 50–70 min.)
🚕 DiDi / taxi card — THE MUSEUM
孙中山故居纪念馆
广东省中山市南朗街道翠亨村
广东省中山市南朗街道翠亨村
Sun Yat-sen Former Residence Memorial Museum, Cuiheng Village, Nanlang, Zhongshan · bus stop: 孙中山故居（杨殷故居）
🚕 Golden-hour side trip (10 min away)
崖口村
中山市南朗街道崖口村
中山市南朗街道崖口村
Yakou village — rice paddies meeting the sea, village seafood canteens. The view the emigrants left behind.
🔙 GETTING HOME
1
DiDi back to 中山国际人才港 (card below). Aim to be there by 20:30.
2
T01B → 前海湾地铁站 (¥15, runs till ~21:30 — cash works here too, but ask the 人才港 staff for the last departure time when you arrive).
3
Metro Line 1 → 高新园, walk to the hostel.
🚕 Return bus terminal
中山国际人才港
中山市翠亨新区马鞍岛
中山市翠亨新区马鞍岛
Zhongshan International Talent Port (T01B terminus back to Shenzhen Qianhai Bay)
🚕 Home (hostel)
深圳市南山区粤海街道高新南四道23号现代大厦R1-A栋
Sturgeon-to-the-Sea Youth Hostel, Modern Building R1-A, 23 Gaoxin South 4th Rd, Nanshan, Shenzhen
🅱️ Plan B if you miss the T01B home: K28 bus (every 20–25 min) → 中山博览中心, then T01A bus (¥18) → 前海湾地铁站, same hours. Nuclear option: DiDi all the way home over the bridge, ~¥260–330 incl. the ¥66 toll.
🏛 THE PLACE (all FREE, inside one zone)
Sun Yat-sen's house — built 1892 with money his brother sent home from Honolulu. You, arriving from Honolulu's direction, standing in the house Honolulu built. That's the pilgrimage. Sun Yat-sen: born here 1866 → ʻIolani School, prize from the hand of King Kalākaua → founded the Revive China Society in Honolulu 1894. The whole county was renamed for him.
Also inside: 翠亨村 Cuiheng village lanes (Qing-era, National Historic-Cultural Village — this is the texture your ancestors' world was made of) · folk-heritage hall · Yang Yin residence · Xinhai Revolution park. Free guided tours several times a day; audio guides at the visitor centre. Enquiries: 0760-28158366. Bring your passport for the security check.
🍜 Food at the museum is nearly nonexistent — eat at Yakou village canteens, or 石岐乳鸽 (roast pigeon) in Zhongshan city if you detour.
Also inside: 翠亨村 Cuiheng village lanes (Qing-era, National Historic-Cultural Village — this is the texture your ancestors' world was made of) · folk-heritage hall · Yang Yin residence · Xinhai Revolution park. Free guided tours several times a day; audio guides at the visitor centre. Enquiries: 0760-28158366. Bring your passport for the security check.
🍜 Food at the museum is nearly nonexistent — eat at Yakou village canteens, or 石岐乳鸽 (roast pigeon) in Zhongshan city if you detour.
🕯 HONORING THE ANCESTORS — the ritual
0 · Before you leave Shenzhen
Buy flowers — white chrysanthemums 白菊花 are THE Chinese ancestor flower (any flower shop or supermarket; ~¥10–20). If you find pakalana 夜来香 / 球兰 — the lei flower itself was a Chinese gift to Hawaiʻi (1823–1864) — even better, for a man named Lei. Carry the names of the family you walk for, written or in your heart — including the unnamed ones.1 · The word that opens doors: 寻根
我是夏威夷华侨的后代，回来寻根。"I am a descendant of Hawaiʻi overseas Chinese, coming home to seek my roots."
寻根 xúngēn — "root-seeking" — is a recognized, honored act in China. Say it to museum staff, elders in the village, anyone who asks why you came. Doors open. Bonus: 檀香山 = "Sandalwood Mountains" — still the Chinese name for Honolulu. Say you come from 檀香山 and every grandmother will understand instantly.
2 · At the gate — ask permission
Hawaiian protocol before entering sacred ground: pause, three slow breaths, a quiet oli kāhea in your own words — ask leave to enter, name who you are and who sent you (the kūpuna of both oceans). Hat off at the house.3 · In the house — three bows
Inside Sun Yat-sen's house (and anywhere you feel the pull in the village): 三鞠躬 sān jūgōng — three slow bows from the waist. This is the modern Chinese form of respect at memorial places (no incense inside a museum — the bows carry it). One for those who left. One for those who stayed. One for those still coming.4 · In the village lanes — speak the names
Walk 翠亨村 slowly. Somewhere quiet, speak your family names out loud, and report — in both traditions you tell the ancestors where the line has been and where it's going: Hawaiʻi → Tokyo → their own doorstep → Mumbai. Lay the flowers somewhere that feels right (village edge, old banyan, field margin — not inside exhibit rooms).5 · The song — at Yakou, golden hour
DiDi 10 min to 崖口村 Yakou for ~16:30–17:55: rice paddies running to the sea — the last view of home the emigrants had. Take out the uke and play one for them facing the water. The song that left on the Thetis in 1852 comes back with you, 174 years later. Then eat at a village canteen — a shared meal is itself an offering.6 · Close it
谢谢祖先。 · Mahalo, e nā kūpuna.Take only photos and memory. Leave only flowers. (No soil, seeds or plants — the border law agrees with the kapu.)
🌊 Bookend (another day, in Shenzhen)
Chiwan Tin Hau Temple 赤湾天后宫 — Nanshan, near Shekou (metro 赤湾 station). The same sea-goddess Tin Hau as Lum Sai Ho Tong on River St, Honolulu (Lum clan, est. 1889) — both ends of the crossing. There, incense IS the proper form: light it, bow three times, thank her for every safe crossing your family ever made — and ask for one more (SZX → CNX, Oct 25, 23:55).📊 BUDGET (round trip)
| Leg | ¥ |
|---|---|
| Metro ×2 | ~8 |
| T01B bus ×2 | 30 |
| DiDi 人才港→museum→Yakou→人才港 (3 hops) | ~150–200 |
| Flowers | ~15 |
| Yakou dinner | ~50–80 |
| Total | ~¥250–330 (≈ \$35–46) |
✅ Legal: Zhongshan is inside Guangdong = fully within your 240-hour permit area. Day trip, back tonight. Keep Oct 25 sacred.