Tomb of Bai Yayu

Tomb of Bai Yayu

The Tomb of Bai Yayu is a cultural relic protection unit of Nantong City.

The Tomb of Bai Yayu is located at the southeastern foot of Langshan Mountain in Chongchuan District and is a cultural relic protection unit of Nantong City.

The tomb is situated southeast of the Daguantai scenic overlook on Langshan Mountain in Nantong, overlooking the Yangtze River.

Bai Yayu, whose given name was Yukun and courtesy name Xianyu, used “Yayu” as his art name. He was a native of Nantong County. As a child, he studied in a private school, and at the age of 18, he became a county-level scholar and attended the Nanzing Academy in Jiangyin. After graduation, he taught at the Normal School of Nanyang Public School and Chengzhong Academy in Shanghai, becoming a well-known patriotic geographer of his time.

In the autumn of 1908, Bai Yayu was hired to go to Tianjin, where he successively served as a geography teacher at the Beiyang Higher Women’s School and the Beiyang Law and Politics School. In February 1909, he, along with Zhang Xiangwen and others, initiated the establishment of the “Chinese Geographical Society,” serving as head of the department. The following February, he founded the “Geographical Journal.”

In October 1911, when the Wuchang Uprising of the Xinhai Revolution broke out, Bai Yayu coordinated efforts in the north. First, he founded the Red Cross Society in Tianjin to carry out revolutionary propaganda activities, then organized the Republican Society and was elected its president to lead the planning of the uprising. On December 2, representatives from various revolutionary groups in the Tianjin area formed a general command post, with Bai Yayu serving as Minister of Communications and one of the commanders of the Luanzhou Uprising. Subsequently, together with Hu Egong, the plenipotentiary representative sent by the Hubei Military Government, he joined forces with other revolutionary groups as a representative of the Tongmenghui to form the “Northern Revolutionary Association” to assist the revolutionary army's northern expedition.

On January 2, 1912, Bai Yayu personally went to Luanzhou to persuade the Luan Army to declare independence and establish the “Northern Revolutionary Army Government.” Wang Jinming, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 27th Regiment, was appointed Grand Marshal, Shi Congyun, commander of the 2nd Battalion, was made Commander-in-Chief, and Bai Yayu served as Chief of Staff. After the Luanzhou Uprising broke out, it was suppressed by Yuan Shikai’s army. Bai Yayu went to Tianjin to plan another uprising but mistakenly entered the enemy-controlled area of Gujie under Wang Huaiqing and was captured. On January 7, 1912, Bai Yayu died a heroic death at the age of 44.

After the founding of the Republic, Bai Yayu’s remains were returned to his hometown and buried on Langshan Mountain. In the Martyrs’ Cemetery of the Luanzhou Uprising on the Western Hills in Beijing, there is also a cenotaph for him. The actual tomb above ground is square-shaped, built of stone, with cliffs on three sides. In front of the tomb stands a stele, 1.74 meters high and 0.78 meters wide, erected in the eleventh lunar month of 1914. The stele is inscribed with seven characters: “Tomb of the Revolutionary Martyr Bai Yayu.” The reverse side bears an epitaph written by Jiang Qian and calligraphed by Zhang Jian. In front of the stele is a stone engraving of his final poem, added in October 1981 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.

Protected area: the tomb garden.

Construction control zone: located within the Langshan Scenic Area; no separate construction control zone is designated.