Gonghe Shaowu Cemetery

Gonghe Shaowu Cemetery

Gonghe Shaowu Cemetery is a classic red tourism destination.

Gonghe Shaowu Cemetery is named after Li Shaowu, a revolutionary martyr and former Secretary of the Huaibao County Committee.

On February 27, 1947, Li Shaowu, Secretary of the Huaibao County Committee, was on his way to report work to the Fifth Sub-bureau of the Central China Bureau when he stayed overnight in Miaolizhuang Village, Baoying County. Betrayed by an informant, he was surrounded by enemy forces. Despite fierce resistance, he died a heroic death. To commemorate Li Shaowu, the people of Huaibao buried his remains by the banks of the Sanhe River, where he was born. They renamed Fuyuan Township of Xubao District to Shaowu Township and Xubao Primary School to Shaowu Primary School in his honor. In May 1978, the Hongze County Party Committee, County Government, County Civil Affairs Bureau, and the former Gonghe Town Party Committee and Government built a cemetery for Martyr Li Shaowu, officially naming it Shaowu Cemetery, for cadres, masses, and primary and secondary school students to pay their respects and hold memorial services.

In March 1997, the Hongze County Party Committee called on all Party members to pay a special Party fee to rebuild Shaowu Cemetery, aiming to establish it as a permanent patriotic education base for the entire county. On April 5, a commemorative meeting was held to mark the 50th anniversary of Martyr Li Shaowu’s death, as an eternal tribute to him. In June 2009, the Huai’an Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government designated the cemetery as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit.

In September 2009, to implement the national “Martyrs’ Comfort Project,” the former Gonghe Town Government secured 200,000 yuan in funding to renovate and repair the cemetery’s gate, memorial tower, tombstones, square, and landscaping. In 2011, another 300,000 yuan was secured to renovate the exhibition room and construct a new hexagonal memorial pavilion at the northeast corner of the memorial tower.

Shaowu Cemetery is located at No. 1 Zhenxing Road, Gonghe, covering an area of 8,905 square meters. Above the gate are four golden characters reading “Shaowu Cemetery,” flanked by a couplet: “Loyal hearts and brave blood shine upon the land of Huaibao; heroic spirit nurtures generations anew.” At both ends of the cemetery stands a 10-meter-high square revolutionary martyrs’ memorial tower, facing east and backed by the west. It is 2.4 meters wide and 1.8 meters thick. The front of the tower bears eight gilded characters: “Eternal Glory to Revolutionary

The cemetery is the final resting place of 49 revolutionary martyrs. Behind the memorial monument, there are four individual martyr graves. At the southern end is the grave of Martyr Li Shaowu; to the north of Li Shaowu’s grave lies a joint grave for 25 martyrs from the 6th Company of a certain regiment of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, as well as the graves of Martyr Gao Zuyuan and Martyr Zhang Liansheng. These four graves are all semi-spherical and made of poured cement, with stone tablets in front bearing the names of the martyrs. In the southwest and northwest corners of the cemetery, 21 additional martyrs are buried. These were relocated here in 2009 and 2010 during the implementation of the "Martyrs' Comfort Project," having originally been interred in scattered locations across the county’s rural areas. These 21 graves are all horizontal in design, uniformly constructed according to specifications set by the provincial Department of Civil Affairs, and made of black marble. To the north of the main gate stands the Martyrs' Deeds Exhibition Room, approximately 100 square meters in size, which provides a brief introduction to the life and deeds of Martyr Li Shaowu.