Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area

Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area

Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area is a national scenic spot and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Originally facing Jinshan across the river, Yuntai Mountain was also known as Yinshan or Yintai Mountain due to its proximity. Over time, phonetic changes led to its current name, Yuntai Mountain.

After the Opium Wars, the area around Yuntai Mountain was designated as part of the British Concession, where the British Consulate was built.

The Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area is composed of Bexian Park and the modern architectural complex along Bexian Road. Bexian Park is located on Yuntai Mountain, which features lush woods and beautiful scenery. In 1926, to commemorate Zhao Bexian, a revolutionary martyr of the Xinhai Revolution, the people of Zhenjiang initiated the establishment of the park under the advocacy of prominent figure Leng Yuqiu. Yuntai Mountain was transformed into Zhao Bexian Park, meticulously designed by horticultural expert Chen Yangcai. After five years of construction, it was completed and opened to the public in June 1931.

At the park’s entrance stand a pair of vividly crafted stone lions with exquisite detail. On either side of the gate are two white marble plaques with gold inscriptions. The plaque on the right, bearing the bold characters “Bexian Park,” was personally inscribed by the late Soong Ching-ling, Honorary Chairwoman of the nation. The left plaque, titled “Introduction to the Martyr’s Deeds,” was handwritten by Tian Heng, Secretary to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, at the age of 80.

Upon entering the park, visitors are greeted by a green hedge barrier, at the center of which stands a bronze statue of the revolutionary martyr Zhao Bexian: holding binoculars in both hands, with a command saber at his waist, standing upright and gazing resolutely forward—his heroic and lifelike image is deeply moving. Behind the statue lies a lotus pond with a fountain in the center. The pond is surrounded by rockeries with peaks, cliffs, and caves, all exquisitely arranged in a charming, rugged layout. The “May Thirtieth” Lecture Hall is located within Bexian Park, backed by Yuntai Mountain to the north and adjacent to the lotus pond to the west. It features a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, with upturned corners extending outward. The structure spans 28 meters in length and 19 meters in width, with decorative ridge beasts at both ends of the roof ridge. The gable walls are adorned with carved floral patterns. This two-story brick-and-wood building has glass windows on all four walls, with a surrounding corridor on the ground floor. The corridor columns are 3.7 meters high and 2.2 meters wide. The stage is located at the eastern end of the interior, while the upper floor is furnished with tiered seating all around. The entire structure is simple yet dignified, elegant and refined. The foundation of the lecture hall was laid in August 1925, and it was completed in 1926. On the wall bases on both the northern and southern sides are white marble inscriptions bearing the same text: “In August of the 14th year of the Republic of China, the people of Zhenjiang erected this hall in commemoration of the May Thirtieth Massacre, to forever remember this event.” The hall houses an exhibition of historical materials related to the Zhenjiang “May Thirtieth” Movement. Starting on May 20, 1925, workers from the Renzhang, Xinhua, and Guangxin silk mills, the Yingchang Match Factory, rickshaw pullers, and dock laborers in western Zhenjiang successively went on strike to protest the killing of Gu Zhenghong by Japanese mills in Shanghai. On May 30, the May Thirtieth Incident occurred in Shanghai, sparking a wave of anti-imperialist and patriotic fervor among people across the country under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Starting on June 2, various sectors in Zhenjiang held strikes and established the “Zhenjiang Diplomatic Support Association,” which organized a large-scale demonstration on the 5th. In late June, various groups in Zhenjiang launched boycott activities, forming inspection teams to destroy Japanese goods and imposing fines totaling tens of thousands of yuan on merchants found hoarding such items. After discussions among the various sectors, the fines were used to build the “May Thirtieth” Lecture Hall to commemorate the patriotic actions of the people of Zhenjiang. In 1982, the lecture hall was listed as a provincial-level cultural heritage protection site.