Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery

Beiyan Peak faces the south and its body looks like the Arhat. With the advantage of the Arhat-like hill, the construction of the cemetery began in the early 1987 and the main buildings were opened to the public in October of the year, covering the area of 400 mu. In October 1997, Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery with the inscription written by Deng Xiaoping was inaugurated. The cemetery complex consists of the Gate, the Memorial Hall, the Forest of Steles, the Sculpture Garden, and the Monument.

- Gate of the Cemetery

At the gate of the cemetery, the gold blocking inscription "Jinggangshan Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery" written by the old Red Army man Song Renqiong on the horizontal archway will come into view. After entering into the gate and passing through the parterre, you can see two groups of steps, of which, 49 steps for one group, which signify that China was founded in 1949, and 60 steps for another group, which represent that the base area had been established for 60 years when the cemetery was founded in 1987.

In the east to the rear hill of the cemetery, a road has been built for the elders and the disablers. The cemetery was afforested with cypresses, osmanthus, azaleas, bamboos, pines, China furs, and so on. A Japanese fir was planted in front of the gate, which is one of the species under the state 1- class protection. The Lin corridor and the Sculpture Garden at both sides of steps are decorated with cedars and boxes. The cemetery is decorated with evergreen trees and quiet flowers, which looks solemn and respectful.

- The Memorial Hall

Upon the wide steps is the Memorial Hall. On the gold blocking tablet over the entrance door is Peng Zhen's inscription "Eternal glory to the revolutionary martyrs on Jinggang Mountains!" when he inspected Jinggangshan. The hall consists of Homage Hall, Show Hall, Mourning Hall, and Loyal Soul Hall.

The inscription "Long live the martyrs!" on the white marble wall in the front of the Homage Hall was written by Mao Zedong in 1946. In the frontal glass case is the beadroll of the Jinggangshan martyrs. The wreaths and floral baskets placed in the hall were consecrated by the leaders of the Party and the country and the social bodies and sightseeing organizations.

In the left Show Hall of the Homage Hall were shown the pictures of the leaders who joined in the Jinggangshan struggles and passed away after the Liberation. There are presently 51 pictures, including the chief leaders who established the base area such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Chen Yi; and the commander in chief in the army such as Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Chen Yi, and Luo Ronghuan; and the senior generals such as Tan Zheng, Su Yu, and Huang Kecheng; and the colonel generals such as Chen Boqun, Lai Chuanzhu, Yang Dezhi, and Zhu Liangcai; and the lieutenant generals such as Yang Meisheng, Bi Zhanyun, Zhang Guohua, and Tan Jiashu; and the major generals such as Long Kaifu and others. There are other 13 pictures, including those who were transferred from the army to the Party and administrative departments to act as leaders, such as He Changgong, He Mingxue, He Zizheng, Chen Zhengren, Peng Ru, Zeng Zhi and others.

In the right Show Hall of the Homage Hall were shown the pictures of the martyrs sacrificed before the Liberation, including old Red Army men and old cadres who joined in the struggle on Jinggang Mountains. There are presently 54 pictures. Some of them are the historical pictures, some are the figures drawn on the basis of the memories of their relatives and comrades-in-arms and others are replaced with the Party flags and pines.

Behind the Homage Hall is the Mourning Hall. On the walls were carved the directories of 15,744 martyrs of 7 counties of the base area during the struggle on Jinggang Mountains. An innominate stele was erected for those martyrs who hadn't left their names when they died as to commemorate them.

On the upstairs of the rear of the Mourning Hall is the Loyal Soul Hall, which was built for the old Red Army men's coffins, such as Zhang Lingbin, He Changgong, Wen Yucheng, He Mingxue and Chen Yunzhong. During the tomb-sweeping days every year, their relatives and friends would come here to commemorate them.

- The Forest of Steles

"Jinggangshan Forest of Steles" was Calligrapher Shu Tong's inscription. He was a Red Army man from Dongxiang of Jiangxi Province, and died in 1998. His writing has been input into computers as a font that can be generally used in the whole world.

Designed by Jiangxi Construction Designing Institute and characterized by the style of Jiangnan gardens, the forest of steles is divided into the stele porch, the stele pavilion, and the stele wall. Based on the terrain, the forests integrate with pavilion, platform, and tower.

The construction of the forest of steles is divided into two parts, one was finished in 1989, and another in 1992. The whole construction had got the support from Huanghe, Shijiazhuang and Shuzhou stele inscription research institutes, and the inscriptions on tablets were carved by well- known experts. The tombstones of the forest wholly adopted ribwork stones from Yushan County in Jiangxi. The stones of this kind are of the exquisite, slippery and wearable materials and also one of the top stone materials among stele stones.

The Stele Forest displayed 138 excellent calligraphic inscriptions, which mainly consist of three major parts: one is the inscriptions written by the Party and country's leaders when they inspected Jinggangshan, one is the inscriptions written by the old army men who participated in Jingganshan's battles, and the other is the inscriptions written by the country's well-known calligraphers, painters, writers and some noted figures. In several different ways, they eulogized the glorious history, heroic achievements and magnificent sceneries from every aspect. It was precisely in the calligraphic arts that the traditional education of the revolution resided and integrated with architecture, calligraphy and engraving, which has enlightened the people's thinking and tempered their willpowers.

- The Sculpture Garden

As the first sculpture garden with the historical revolutionary figures as the theme in China, the sculpture garden was founded in October in1987, which was located at the hill of the east side of the Cemetery. The inscription was written by the vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the general of the army, Xiao Ke, who participated in Jingganshan's battles. The 19 figures were sculptured such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Chen Yi, Tan Zhenlin, Chen Zhengren, Zhuang Ziqing, Wang Erzhuo, Wan Xixian, Li Can, He Tingying, Wang Zuo, Yuan Wecai Cai Xiemin, Wu Ruolan, He Changgong, Luo Ronghuan, Teng Daiyuan, and He Zizheng, which were made of bronze, marble and granite by the country's well-known sculpturers Liu Kaiqu, Ye Yushan, Cheng Yunxian, Pan He and Cao Chunsheng and others. Integrated with the primes of the sculptures in the south and the north, the sculpture garden reproduces the heroic spirit of the generation of the pioneers in Jinggangshang's battles and elegant

- The Monument

Located at the face of the Buddha style mountain, the monument is at the top of the cemetery. The construction began in 1993 and was open to the public in 1997. The monument was designed by the country's noted sculptors Cheng Yunxian and Wang Zhong.

With an area of 1200 square meters, the monument consists of the foundation, the pedestal and the body. The retiring room at the first floor, reception room and the exhibition rooms at the second floor form the base, which are made of granites produced in Changping County.

The body is made of titanium-plate stainless steel. It is 27 meters high, meaning that it was in 1927 that the veteran proletarian revolutionists such as Mao Zedong established the base area in Jinggang Mountains. It lays stress on the shape of a hill, with the blaze implying that a single spark could spread far and wide, and the serried guns implying that the political power grew out of the barrel of guns.

The pedestal is built by laying Jiangjunhong marbles. It is 9.7 meters high, meaning that it was in 1997 that Jinggangshan base area had been established for 70 years. The characters "Monument to Jinggangshan Reolutionary Martyrs" were inscribed by Deng Xiaoping in Beijing in 1984. The three groups of white marble relief sculptures reflecting Jinggangshan's battles were designed by Professor Cao Chunsheng of the National Art College.

The subject of the front relief sculpture is the assembling on Jinggang Mountains, displaying the famous meeting of Zhu's and Mao's forces in April 1928 and the meeting of the Fourth Red Army and the Fifth Red Army in December 1928 and the leading figures such Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Chen Yi and others.

The subject of the east relief sculpture is the armed independent regime of workers and peasants, displaying the moving scenes of the land reform, army construction, Party construction, and political power construction created by Mao Zedong during Jinggangshan's struggle.

The subject of the west relief sculpture is the bathing in blood on Luoxiao Mountain, displaying that the Red Army fought bravely to shatter several military suppressions and joint suppressions of Kuomintang reactionaries by showing the famous great victory at Longquankou, the military base area at Ciping, the five posts and the military base area at Jiulongshan.

A "Mother" statue was built in front of the monument, meaning that Jinggangshan was the cradle of Chinese revolution and the big classroom of the revolutionary traditions for later generations.