Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery

Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery

The Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction, a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level, and a patriotic education base.

The Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery Exhibition Hall during the Northeast China Occupation Period is a thematic exhibition hall built on the site of the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery. As an important historical relic of Japan's invasion of the Northeast, its frenzied plundering of coal resources, and its enslavement and abuse of Chinese laborers, the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery is one of the significant Japanese-related sites in Jilin Province. It authentically records, from one perspective, the bloody rule and cruel exploitation suffered by the Chinese people during the fourteen years of the Northeast’s occupation, as well as the tenacious revolutionary will and moving spirit of resistance demonstrated by the miners under the leadership of the Party. In November 2005, the miners' cemetery was designated as the third batch of national patriotic education demonstration bases by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee due to its significant historical value and educational warning significance. In March 2013, it was approved and announced by the State Council as part of the seventh batch of major historical and cultural sites protected at the national level.

The Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery is the largest site in Northeast China that bears witness to the Japanese imperialist invasion of Northeast China, the plundering of natural resources, and the abuse of the Chinese people. It is also one of the few well-preserved pieces of evidence of Japanese imperialist aggression against China that remain in the country. The Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery was formerly known as "Fangjia Grave" or "Ten Thousand People Pit." After the September 18 Incident in 1931, Japanese invaders extended their claws into the Liaoyuan Coal Mine and began 14 years of harsh colonial rule. The Xi’an Coal Mine under the Japanese puppet regime had four coal mining stations, established 14 pits, and oversaw 42 large mining teams, implementing a "human flesh mining" policy of "exchanging people for coal," brutally extracting and plundering Liaoyuan’s coal resources. According to Japanese puppet records, from the occupation of Xi’an Coal Mine in 1931 until Japan’s surrender in 1945, 15.4896 million tons of coal were taken from Xi’an, yielding huge profits, while leaving behind six mass graves filled with the remains of Chinese miners—the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery being the most typical and concentrated of them.

In September 1963, excavation and organization of the miners' cemetery began for public display. Originally managed by the Liaoyuan Mining Bureau, the site was fully transferred to the Liaoyuan Municipal Culture Bureau on September 3, 2001, and is now under the administration of the Liaoyuan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism.

The protection area of the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery spans 200,000 square meters and is divided into two major exhibition sections: the exhibition display area and the cemetery site.

The exhibition display area houses a 1,055-square-meter "Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery Site Exhibition Hall." The current basic exhibition is themed "Historical Witness to Colonial Atrocities — Exhibits and Historical Facts of the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery during the Northeast China Occupation Period." The exhibition is structured into six parts, with the main content presented in four sections: Prelude "Coal City Xi’an"; Unit 1 "Occupation of the Mines"; Unit 2 "Miners’ Blood and Tears"; Unit 3 "Turbulence in the Mines"; Unit 4 "Liberation of Liaoyuan"; and Epilogue "Public Memorial and Warning." Using unique cultural relics as a language, the exhibition vividly displays the tragic plight and suffering of the Liaoyuan miners, truthfully exposes the cruelty and darkness of Japanese colonial rule, and bears witness to the crimes committed by Japan during its invasion of China. This allows visitors to enhance their understanding and awareness of modern Northeast history through the contrast of history and reality, consciously engage in education on socialist core values, and strive to build a free, democratic, and prosperous nation.

The cemetery site covers nearly 60,000 square meters and currently has eight skeletal exhibition halls preserving 197 complete sets of remains of deceased miners and over 20 scattered remains, reflecting different periods and contexts. On the western slope of the cemetery lies the site of a "human incinerator," which, even after more than half a century, still shows bone ash and scorched earth over a foot thick. The surrounding hills are dotted with over 3,000 miners' graves.

The Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery Exhibition Hall houses a collection of 230 cultural relics, mainly consisting of production equipment used in the mines, cultural and living facilities left behind by the Japanese invaders, as well as production and daily necessities closely related to the miners. Notable items include Niu Shiqing’s work ticket, the History and Chronicle Grand Bell, the Japanese version of the "Ten-Year History of Xi’an Mining," laborer certificates, registration certificates, large Japanese-style hoists used in the mines, Hitachi transformers, electric motors, and others.

On the central hill of the miners' cemetery stands a monument to the deceased miners. A corner of the exhibition area features a forest of 128 warning steles, serving as a cultural landscape that highlights the patriotic education role of the miners' cemetery. For the convenience of visitors, the site also includes guide maps and a team of highly qualified guides who offer full accompanying services.

Since its excavation and opening to the public in 1963, the miners' cemetery has received nearly 6 million visitors from across the country and international friends.

Historical Background

The formation of the miners' cemetery is inseparable from the history of Liaoyuan. Liaoyuan is a city developed around coal, and its modern history is essentially the rise and fall of the coal mining industry. The Liaoyuan Coal Mine, now under the Liaoyuan Mining Bureau, was formerly called "Xi’an Coal Mine" before liberation and is a century-old mine. Looking back at the history of Xi’an Coal Mine, it went through several phases: the private kiln period (1911–July 1927), the state-private joint operation period (August 1927–November 1931), and the Northeast China Occupation Period (December 1931–August 1945).

During the Han Dynasty, laborers in this region had already discovered coal fields, but due to the constraints of the feudal system, they were not well developed. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, citing severe border threats in the Northeast and to protect the "dragon veins," the court turned Xi’an into a hunting and leisure "hunting ground," strictly prohibiting mining, a ban that continued into the Qing Dynasty.

In the 3rd year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1911), Chen Decai, a farmer living in the Taixin area, unearthed "black stone" while digging a well. After appraisal in Fengtian, it was confirmed to be coal, a combustible material.

At that time, ethnic industries in Liaoyuan had begun to develop, and handicraft workshops such as those for brewing, oil pressing, and pottery making appeared one after another. These mainly used wood as fuel, and the surrounding forests had been largely deforested, leading to a severe shortage of firewood. Chen Decai and local landlord Fu Xingzhou agreed to develop coal resources, organizing a capital fund of ten thousand yuan to establish the Fuguo Company, thus marking the beginning of the development of the Liaoyuan coalfield. The establishment of Fuguo Company made Fu Xingzhou extremely wealthy, and seeing the profits from coal mining, other wealthy individuals eagerly invested, leading to a proliferation of private kilns. By 1924, there were ten private kilns: Baoxing Company, Datong Company, Tongqing Company, Dacheng Company, Quanyi Company, Fuhua Company, Baohua Company, Fu Hai Company, and Yongji Company.

The rich coal resources of Xi’an Coal Mine attracted the covetous eyes of foreign capital, particularly Japan, which already had militaristic ambitions before World War I. In 1913, Japanese imperialism established the "South Manchuria Railway Company" (also known as "Mantetsu") in China and soon sent people to investigate Xi’an Coal Mine to gather economic intelligence. On December 25 of the 5th year of the Taishō era (1916 AD), Japanese Rikken Seiyūkai representative Morikatsu gathered the 44th Imperial Diet to discuss the expansion of production at the Dalian Coal Mine owned by Mantetsu and the investigation report on Xi’an Coal Mine. On January 11, 1917, Mantetsu entered into a contract with Datong Company to establish the Xi’an Coal Mine Co., Ltd., a Sino-Japanese joint venture, marking the official infiltration of Japanese capital into the Xi’an mining area. In 1917, the Japanese Toyo Tanko Company was established and continuously infiltrated capital into Xi’an Coal Mine through "technical assistance," "Sino-Japanese joint ventures," and "loans." In 1918, the "Meiji Mining Company" under the Japanese Yasukawa financial group also extended its reach into the Xi’an mining area, colluding with local gentry and kiln owners to establish Jianyuan, Jianzhao, and Taixin three Sino-Japanese joint ventures, collectively referred to as "Meiji Mines" or "Japanese Kilns" at the time.

With the increasing expansion of Japanese capital, the ethnic mining industry in Liaoyuan gradually fell into difficulties. The Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin, leveraging the nationwide anti-Japanese sentiment, proposed a "ban on foreign-operated coal mines." In 1927, he tasked Yang Yuting with overseeing the merger of the ten private companies in Xi’an. In March of the same year, Bai Mingzhang was appointed as the director of the preparatory office for Xi’an Coal Mine Company to handle the takeover. On August 1, 1927, the operational rights of the ten companies were completely controlled by the Fengtian warlords. When the September 18 Incident broke out in 1931, Japanese imperialism, aiming to turn the Northeast into a strategic supply base, dispatched Heimu Dazuo and his team to take over Xi’an Coal Mine. On December 28, 1931, with the armed assistance of the traitor Yu Zhishan, Heimu Dazuo completed the full takeover of Xi’an Coal Mine. From then on, Xi’an Coal Mine came under the rule of Japanese invaders, and the miners became slaves, ushering the mine into the darkest fourteen years of the Northeast China Occupation Period.

During the Northeast China Occupation Period, Xi’an Coal Mine traded miners’ lives for coal. Japanese imperialism, in its bid to turn the Northeast into a strategic base for the invasion of all China and to meet the wartime demand for coal, frenziedly accelerated the plunder of coal resources. They carried out destructive and exploitative mining at minimal or no cost, using the retreat pillar caving method, forcing miners into mines with no safety measures, resulting in many deaths. Historical records show that for every ton of coal produced, alongside materials like timber, there was also an entry for the "consumption" of a fraction of a Chinese laborer. The Japanese did not regard the Chinese as human beings but as "materials" to be consumed. To plunder coal resources, the Japanese implemented a "use Chinese to control Chinese" policy, propping up 42 feudal large mining teams in the mining area. The Fangjia Team was the most brutal in its rule over miners, led by the spies Fang Ming and Fang Cheng of the Tianjin Maochuan Intelligence Agency, with Cai Jiuling as the general manager of the Fangjia Team. A folk rhyme at the time said, "Horses fear going down the pit, people fear the Fangjia Team," illustrating the extent of their exploitation and abuse. "Fangjia Grave" began burying bodies in the winter of 1940 and was filled within two years. In 1943, a "human incinerator" was built on the western slope of the cemetery, where thick smoke poured out continuously from 1943 to 1945.

On August 15, 1945, after the arduous struggle of the Chinese people, the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was finally achieved, and Xi’an Coal Mine was liberated from Japanese rule. However, it left behind numerous "ten thousand people pits" filled with the remains of Chinese miners.

In 1951, during the suppression of counter-revolutionaries, the execution of Cai Jiuling, the executioner of miners and major traitor, took place at the site of his current kneeling statue, in tribute to the deceased miners.

In September 1963, during the excavation and memorial activities at the "ten thousand people pit," Niu Shiqing’s "work ticket" was discovered. In a space of 296 square meters, 179 sets of remains were found in three rows, along with skeletons bound by iron wires around their hands and legs, and skulls, arm bones, and leg bones bearing deep knife and axe wounds—truly shocking and chilling. On the southwestern slope of the cemetery lies the site of the former "human incinerator," which, despite decades of wind and sun exposure, still shows over a foot of bone ash and scorched earth within a forty-two-square-meter area.

In 1964, seven different types of miners’ skeletal remains and one "human incinerator" site were organized for public viewing and commemoration. A monument titled "Monument to the Miners Who Died Under Japanese Puppet Rule in the Liaoyuan Coal Mine" was erected on the central hill of the cemetery.

In 1973, the mining bureau organized over 100 people to establish the "Class Education Exhibition Hall" on-site at the miners' cemetery, using historical relics as a foundation. This caused a national sensation and turned the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery into a classroom for education.

In November 1983, it was designated as a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit.

From 2001 to 2003, with the attention and support of leaders at various levels and people from all walks of life, the miners' cemetery underwent maintenance, protection, and construction. Seven skeletal sites and one "human incinerator" site were reinforced while preserving their original appearance, and a new 1,055-square-meter comprehensive exhibition hall was built.

On November 20, 2005, the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery was designated by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee as part of the third batch of national patriotic education demonstration bases.

On March 25, 2008, the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery Exhibition Hall during the Northeast China Occupation Period was designated as one of the first free admission venues in Jilin Province, opened to the public free of charge.

In May 2013, the Liaoyuan Miners' Cemetery was designated as part of the seventh group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council.

Further reading:

·Seventh Group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level