"May Thirtieth" Lecture Hall

"May Thirtieth" Lecture Hall

The "May Thirtieth" Lecture Hall is located in Bexian Park, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province.

The "May Thirtieth" Lecture Hall is situated in Bexian Park, north of Yuntai Mountain and west of the Lotus Pond. It boasts a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof with upturned eaves, spanning 28 meters in length and 19 meters in width. The roof ridge is capped with decorative ridge-end ornaments, the gable bases feature carved designs, and all four walls of its two stories are fitted with glass windows. The ground floor is encircled by a 3.7-meter-high colonnade that is 2.2 meters wide. At the eastern end of the interior is a stage, while the upper floor is surrounded by tiered seating. The entire building exudes a classic, dignified charm with an elegant and refined aesthetic. The foundation stone was laid in August 1925, and the hall was completed in 1926. On both the northern and southern sides of the wall base, there are white marble inscriptions bearing the same text: “Erected in August of the 14th year of the Republic of China by the people of Zhenjiang in commemoration of the May Thirtieth Tragedy. This hall stands forever as a reminder of their patriotic resolve.”

Starting on May 20, 1925, workers from the Renzhang, Xinhua, and Guangxin silk mills in western Zhenjiang, along with employees of the Yingchang Match Factory and rickshaw pullers and dockworkers, successively went on strike to protest the killing of worker Gu Zhenghong at a Japanese-owned textile mill in Shanghai. On May 30, the May Thirtieth Incident occurred in Shanghai, sparking an anti-imperialist and patriotic upsurge across the country under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Beginning on June 2, various sectors in Zhenjiang held meetings and established the “Zhenjiang Foreign Affairs Support Association,” which organized a large-scale demonstration on the 5th. In late June, the people of Zhenjiang launched a movement to boycott Japanese goods, forming inspection teams to destroy such items and imposing fines of ten thousand yuan on merchants found hoarding them. After discussions among various groups, it was decided to use the fines collected to build the "May Thirtieth" Lecture Hall in honor of the patriotic actions of the Zhenjiang people.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units