Monument to
the People's Heroes
人民英雄纪念碑
Monument from southwest, 2014
39°54′11″N 116°23′30″E / 39.90306°N 116.39167°E / 39.90306; 116.39167
LocationTiananmen Square, Beijing, China
DesignerLiang Sicheng, Lin Huiyin
TypeCenotaph
MaterialMarble, granite
Height38 metres (125 ft)
Beginning dateAugust 1952
Completion dateMay 1958
Dedicated toVeterans of Chinese wars 1842–1949

The Monument to the People's Heroes (Chinese: 人民英雄纪念碑; pinyin: Rénmín Yīngxióng Jìniànbēi) is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of China to the martyrs of revolutionary struggle during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is located in the southern part of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, in front of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The obelisk monument was built in accordance with a resolution of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted on November 30, 1949, with construction lasting from August 1952 to May 1958. The architect of the monument was Liang Sicheng, with some elements designed by his wife, Lin Huiyin. The civil engineer, Chen Zhide (陈志德) was also instrumental in realizing the final product.[1]

The monument has also served as the center of large-scale mourning activities that later developed into protest and unrest, such as the deaths of Premier Zhou Enlai (which developed into the 1976 Tiananmen Incident) and Hu Yaobang (which later developed into the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, which was claimed as an anti-government movement by the Chinese Communist Party at that time).

Description

The 37.94-meter (124.5 ft)-tall monument covers an area of 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft). It weighs over 10,000 t (9,800 long tons; 11,000 short tons) and contains about 17,000 pieces of marble and granite from Qingdao, Shandong Province, as well as from the nearby Fangshan District.

On the pedestal of the tablet are huge bas-reliefs depicting eight major revolutionary episodes, which can be read in chronological order in a clockwise direction from the east:

  1. Destruction of opium at Humen (1839), in the run-up to the First Opium War
  2. Jintian Uprising, the catalyst for the Taiping Revolution (1851)
  3. Wuchang Uprising, the catalyst for the Xinhai Revolution (1911)
  4. May 4th Movement (1919)
  5. May 30 Movement (1925)
  6. Nanchang Uprising (1927)
  7. War of Resistance Against Japan (1931-1945)
  8. Yangtze River Crossing Campaign of the Chinese Civil War (1949)

On the front of the monument is an inscription in Mao Zedong's handwriting, which reads, "Eternal glory to the people's heroes!" (Chinese: 人民英雄永垂不朽; pinyin: Rénmín yīngxióng yǒngchuí bùxiǔ).

Epitaph in gold
The Monument, in front of the Great Hall of the People, 2016

On the back of the monument is an epitaph written by Zhou Enlai:[2]

Immortal Glory to the People's Heroes who laid down their lives in the People's War of Liberation and the People's Revolution in the past three years!
Immortal Glory to the People's Heroes who laid down their lives in the People's War of Liberation and the People's Revolution in the past thirty years!
Immortal Glory to the People's Heroes who, since the year 1840s, have given their lives in the many struggles to resist the enemy, domestic and foreign, to strive for the independence of the nation and the freedom of the people!

The time framing of since the 1840s was intended to encompass the China's modern history beginning with the Opium Wars, thereby framing the period of the 1840s to the 1940s as an anti-imperialist and revolutionary century.[2]

Commemoration

The Monument to the People's Heroes with the Great Hall of the People in the background, illuminated at night

The conduct of commemoration activities at the Monument to the People's Heroes is regulated by the Major Events Administration Office of the Tiananmen Area Administrative Committee. Strict rules apply to conduct within the vicinity of the monument. Since the protests of 1989 (during which the Monument was a rallying point for the protestors), the government has prohibited climbing the monument beyond the protective barrier without prior approval, as well as photography and filming. Today, those intending to lay wreaths at the monument must apply five days in advance.[3]

Since 1980, it has been customary for visiting foreign dignitaries, especially from historical allies of the People's Republic of China, such as post-Soviet states, to lay wreaths at the monument when visiting Beijing. Certain domestic groups, such as police and military units, would also sometimes lay wreaths at the monument.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Monument to the People's Heroes". news.sohu.com (in Chinese). 2009-08-07. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  2. 1 2 Cai, Xiang; 蔡翔 (2016). Revolution and its narratives : China's socialist literary and cultural imaginaries (1949-1966). Rebecca E. Karl, Xueping Zhong, 钟雪萍. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-8223-7461-9. OCLC 932368688.
  3. ↑ "Matters to note when paying respects or laying wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes". Major Events Administration Office of the Tiananmen Area Administrative Committee. 19 July 2002. Archived from the original on 5 December 2003. Retrieved 2021-07-28.

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