Anti-Japanese Martyrs Memorial Hall of Shangzhi County

Anti-Japanese Martyrs Memorial Hall of Shangzhi County

The Anti-Japanese Martyrs Memorial Hall of Shangzhi County is a classic red tourism attraction.

The Anti-Japanese Martyrs Memorial Hall of Shangzhi County is located on the south side of the Shangzhi Martyrs Cemetery at No. 2 Huayuan Street in the urban area of Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province, facing the Zhuhe Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Monument. It was decided to be established on October 15, 1986, during a meeting of the Standing Committee of the County People's Congress, and has a construction area of 824 square meters. There are three exhibition halls in total, with the central one being the comprehensive hall, and the eastern and western halls respectively dedicated to the Zhao Shangzhi Martyrs Memorial Hall and the Zhao Yiman Martyrs Memorial Hall. The comprehensive hall has an exhibition area of 192 square meters, displaying the history of the local people’s anti-Japanese struggle in the Zhuhe region, the establishment and evolution of the Third Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, its military achievements, as well as the deeds and revolutionary relics of 16 anti-Japanese heroes.

The Zhao Shangzhi Martyrs Monument is located to the east of the Zhao Shangzhi Martyrs Memorial Hall. The monument is 12 meters high and has a square column shape. The front features the inscription “Eternal Glory to the Anti-Japanese National Hero, Martyr Zhao Shangzhi,” carved on black marble.

The Zhao Yiman Martyrs Monument is located in front and to the west of the Zhao Yiman Martyrs Memorial Hall. The monument is 12 meters high. The four sides of the monument are inscribed with dedications: the west side bears the words from 1961 August 9, “Eternal Glory to the Revolutionary Hero, Martyr Zhao Yiman”; the south side features a message from Soong Ching-ling in October 1963, “Martyr Zhao Yiman Was Unyielding in Her Anti-Japanese Resistance”; the north side displays an inscription from Chen Lei in 1985, “Heroine of Her Time”; and the east side presents a dedication from the Shangzhi County Committee, Shangzhi County People’s Government, Shangzhi County People’s Congress Standing Committee, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Shangzhi County Committee on September 3, 1985, “Martyr Zhao Yiman’s Anti-Japanese Sacrifice Monument.”

Zhao Yiman (October 25, 1905 – August 2, 1936), known as the “Female Political Commissar with a White Horse and Red Gun,” was originally named Li Kuntai, with the childhood name Shu Duan, her formal name was Li Shuning, also known as Li Yichao. She was born in Baihua Town, Yibin County, Sichuan Province. In 1926, she entered Yibin Girls’ Middle School (now Yibin No. 2 Middle School), where she joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) the same year, becoming a renowned female national anti-Japanese heroine. Influenced by revolutionary ideas during the May Fourth Movement, in 1924, her eldest sister’s husband Zheng Youzhi (a founding member of the CCP’s Sichuan Provincial Committee, a revolutionary martyr, and known as the “Peasant King of Southern Sichuan”) introduced her to the Socialist Youth League via correspondence. In the summer of 1926, she joined the CCP and served as the women’s committee member of the CCP’s Yibin Regional Committee Youth League and later as the acting women’s minister of the county party committee.

In 1927, she enrolled at the Wuhan Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy. In July, following the collapse of the Wuhan government, she moved to Shanghai and then went to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. The following year, she married her classmate Chen Dabang (also known as Chen Dabang). In the winter of 1928, due to illness and pregnancy, she was recalled to China and successively carried out underground work in Yichang, Shanghai, and Nanchang. In the spring of 1932, she was dispatched to work in the northeastern region of China, changed her name to Zhao Yiman, and led labor struggles in Fengtian (Shenyang) and Harbin.