Museum of Relics of Deceased Miners in Liaoyuan Coal Mine During the Japanese Puppet Regime

Museum of Relics of Deceased Miners in Liaoyuan Coal Mine During the Japanese Puppet Regime

The Museum of Relics of Deceased Miners in Liaoyuan Coal Mine During the Japanese Puppet Regime is a cultural relic protection unit of Jilin Province and a patriotic education base.

Museum of Relics of Deceased Miners in Liaoyuan Coal Mine During the Japanese Puppet Regime: Also known as the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery, it is located about 8 kilometers northwest of downtown Liaoyuan City, Jilin Province. The miners' cemetery is one of the few well-preserved sites in China that bear witness to Japanese aggression against China, and it was also the burial ground for deceased miners of the Dongcheng Coal Mining Office at the Xi’an Coal Mine during the Japanese puppet regime. It was formerly known as "Fangjia Tomb" or "Ten Thousand Man Pit." During World War II, after Japan invaded China, it turned the Northeast region into a strategic supply base, forcibly occupying the Xi’an Coal Mine and adopting the brutal practice of "exchanging people for coal," madly plundering coal resources. According to records, from 1932 to 1945, Japanese invaders looted a total of 15.819 million tons of coal, reaping nearly 100 million yuan in huge profits. The Japanese invaders did not regard Chinese miners as human beings but as "raw materials," listing them alongside gunpowder and other items under raw material consumption. Accidents were frequent, leaving behind six "Ten Thousand Man Pits" filled with the remains of Chinese miners, among which the miners' cemetery is the most typical and concentrated site. On September 23, 1942, a gas and coal dust explosion at Pit 1 of the Taixin Mine in the Xi’an Coal Mine resulted in the deaths of 617 miners.

The Miners’ Cemetery Museum was first built in 1963, and underwent comprehensive large-scale restoration and construction from 2001 to 2003. Atop the central hill stands a solemn and dignified memorial monument for the miners, inscribed with 15 golden characters reading “Museum of Relics of Deceased Miners in Liaoyuan Coal Mine During the Japanese Puppet Regime,” personally penned by Wang Guangying, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The original seven bone exhibition halls and one “cremation furnace” site have been restored to their original appearance. A new 1,055-square-meter “Exhibition Hall of the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery During the Japanese Puppet Regime” has been built in the center of the courtyard, using modern display techniques to recreate the history of how Japanese imperialism madly plundered China’s coal resources and brutalized our fellow countrymen. The museum currently preserves 7 sites where deceased miners were buried, including 197 sets of remains in various forms and one cremation furnace site, along with over 3,000 miners’ graves, an iron statue of the executioner Cai Jiuling, a large historical bell, and relics and remains such as the “Ten Thousand Man Pit” and the “Niu Shiqing Work Ticket.” In 1983, it was designated as a “Provincial Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit” by the People’s Government of Jilin Province; in 1994, it was established as a “Provincial Patriotic Education Base” by the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Provincial Government; and in 2005, it was announced by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee as one of the third batch of National Patriotic Education Demonstration Bases.