Coordinates: 39°54′11″N 116°23′30″E / 39.90306°N 116.39167°E / 39.90306; 116.39167

Monument to the People's Heroes

From WikiProjectMed
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Monument to
the People's Heroes
人民英雄纪念碑
Monument from southwest, 2014
Map
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 is 37.94 meters high, sitting south to north, from bottom to top for the pedestal, giant pedestal, the pedestal body, the top of the monument, the pedestal inlaid with eight large reliefs and two small reliefs, all to the theme of the major events of modern Chinese history. The center stone of the stele is taken from Laoshan Mountain, Qingdao, with "The heroes of the people are immortal" handwritten by Chairman Mao Zedong on the front, and the inscription written by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai on the back. Since its construction, the monument has been repaired many times, and in 1961, the Monument to the People's Heroes was listed as a Major cultural heritage sites under national-level protection.

History

Preparation

After the liberation of Beiping, in September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference decided to build a monument to the martyrs. Initially, the proposed sites included Babaoshan and Dongdan Square, but Tiananmen Square was finally chosen. The delegates who made the decision felt that the revolutionary tradition of the May Fourth Movement was present in front of Tiananmen Square, and that it would be convenient for people to come and pay their respects. The conference also adopted the inscription on the monument, written by Mao Zedong.

On September 24, 1949, a staff member of the CPPCC found the engraver Chen Zhijing in Liulichang, and ordered from him a copper lapis lazuli monument for laying the foundation stone, the pedestal was 2 feet high, the monument body was 5 feet high, 2 feet wide, and half a foot thick. on September 25, the monument's inscription was handed over by the staff member to Chen Zhijing and his brother. The monument was completed on September 29th. In the second day, the foundation stone laying ceremony for the monument was held in Tiananmen Square, with all the representatives of the first People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) present. The foundation stone was laid by the People's Liberation Army Military Orchestra, which played the March of the Volunteers and Wind Chimes, after which Mao Zedong read the monument's inscription. Then, all the delegates and members of the CPPCC filled in the earth.

Shortly afterward, the Beijing Municipal Urban Planning Commission solicited designs from all over the country. By 1951, during the one-year call period, the committee received a total of more than 140 design proposals.[2][3] These designs can be generally categorized into three types - flat on the ground, giant sculptures, or towering monuments. The design forms of monuments include obelisks, monumental columns, and ancient Chinese monuments. These designs were finalized by the committee and were not adopted. The committee decided that the monument should be tall, and that only one of the two sides of the monument should have text, while the other side was temporarily vacant, so they asked Chairman Mao Zedong to inscribe the words "People's Heroes Forever", and Peng Zhen to ask Premier Zhou Enlai to write the inscription that had previously been written by Mao Zedong on the other side of the monument.[4] After that, the Urban Planning Committee got inspiration from the "Wanshoushan Kunming Lake" monument in the Summer Palace and the "Qiongdao Chunyin" monument in the Beihai, and formed a feasible design that could be eventually constructed, but the theme for the top of the monument could not be determined at that time.

Description

The 37.94-meter (124.5 ft)-tall [citation needed] monument covers an area of 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft)[citation needed]. 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:[5]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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. ^ 中共江西省委. 党史研究室 (2009). 党史文苑 (in Chinese). 中共江西省委党史研究室. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  3. ^ 共和国要事珍闻. 共和国要事珍闻 (in Chinese). 吉林文史出版社. 2000. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  4. ^ 在周恩来身边的日子: 西花厅工作人员的回忆 (in Chinese). 中央文献出版社. 1998. p. 323. ISBN 978-7-5073-0430-5. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ "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.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monument to the People's Heroes.
Retrieved from "https://mdwiki.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_People%27s_Heroes"