Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun

Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun

The Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun is a Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic site of red tourism.

The Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun is located in Beiku Township, Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province.

Zhang Yingchun was born on November 11, 1901 (the 27th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty) in Huludou Village, Lili, Wujiang County (now Lixing Village, Beishe Community, Lili Town). That day was the first day of the tenth lunar month, and an old farming proverb says “In the tenth month, the lotus blooms as if welcoming early spring,” so she was named Rongcheng, with the courtesy name Yingchun and the pseudonym Qiushi. From a young age, Zhang Yingchun studied at the local private school and the National Primary School, then continued her education at the Lili Girls’ Higher Primary School with her father. Diligent and hardworking, she excelled in all subjects. In 1919 (the eighth year of the Republic of China), she was admitted to the Shanghai Liangjiang Women’s Physical Education Normal School, where she quickly embraced the new ideas emerging after the May Fourth Movement. In 1922 (the 11th year of the Republic), after graduation, she taught at Jimei Girls’ Normal School in Xiamen, Fujian. The following autumn, through the introduction of Liu Yazi, she began teaching at Jingxian Girls’ Middle School in Songjiang. There, she met the Communist Party member Hou Shaokui and the left-wing Kuomintang member Zhu Jixun, and voraciously read progressive publications such as New Youth, Vanguard, and Guide Weekly. Before long, through the introduction of Hou Shaokui, she joined the reorganized Kuomintang. In 1925 (the 14th year of the Republic), Zhang Yingchun returned to her hometown and taught at the Lili Girls’ Primary School. Her bob haircut drew criticism from conservative individuals, and some ignorant children, influenced by adults, called her a “nun” as they followed her. But Zhang Yingchun remained undeterred. To help liberate more women from feudal ethics, she advocated for the establishment of a summer school for women in Lili, where she was unanimously elected head teacher in charge of academic affairs. On March 12 of that year, when Sun Yat-sen passed away, various sectors in Wujiang County held a memorial service in Lili. Zhang Yingchun, together with Liu Yazi and Hou Shaokui, delivered speeches calling on everyone to always remember Sun Yat-sen's new—. In August of the same year, she served as an executive committee member and head of the Women’s Department of the Kuomintang Jiangsu Provincial Committee, engaging in head-on struggles with the right wing of the Kuomintang. In November, introduced by Hou Shaokui, she joined the Communist Party of China. In January 1926 (the 15th year of the Republic), as a delegate from Jiangsu Province, Zhang Yingchun attended the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang in Guangzhou. On March 8, with the assistance of Liu Yazi, she founded Wujian Women. On March 12, the foundation-laying ceremony for Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum was held in Nanjing. That morning, she delivered a speech urging “revolution for the benefit of the majority of workers and peasants”; at noon, holding a banner that read “Support the National Assembly,” she led women from all walks of life to participate in—; in the afternoon, when the right wing of the Kuomintang suddenly attacked Liu Yazi and others, Zhang Yingchun stepped forward to protect Liu Yazi and ensure his safe escape. On March 18, the “March 18th Massacre” occurred in Beijing, where patriotic youths such as Liu Hezhen were gunned down. Zhang Yingchun immediately drafted the Declaration of the Women’s Department of the Jiangsu Provincial KMT Committee Against Duan Qirui’s Massacre of Beijing Citizens and participated in— in Shanghai, risking her life to give speeches to the public. In October, she was elected a member of the Women’s Movement Committee of the CCP Jiangsu-Zhejiang Regional Committee. On April 2, 1927 (the 16th year of the Republic), the Kuomintang Jiangsu Provincial Committee moved from Shanghai to Nanjing, as the reactionary coup by the right wing of the Kuomintang was imminent. At that time, Zhang Yingchun, suffering from overwork and illness, was recuperating at home in Wujiang. After receiving three urgent telegrams from Hou Shaokui in succession, despite her family’s dissuasion, she resolutely went to Nanjing to join the fight. On April 9, Chiang Kai-shek suddenly ordered the arrest of Communists and destroyed provincial and municipal party headquarters. On the evening of the 10th, the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the CCP held an emergency joint meeting at Dashamao Lane in Nanjing to discuss contingency measures. By the early hours of the 11th, while the meeting was still underway, it was surrounded by over 50 thugs, and Hou Shaokui and several others were arrested. That same day, Zhang Yingchun arrived in Nanjing from Shanghai and, together with Chen Junqi, a member of the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the CCP and secretary of the Women’s Committee, went to Dashamao Lane to make contact. Detectives lying in wait there immediately arrested both of them. In prison, Zhang Yingchun fought bravely and tenaciously. The enemy tortured her relentlessly, hanging and beating her for a day and a night, reviving her with cold water every time she lost consciousness, but she only answered with the words “I am a Communist Party member,” demonstrating the lofty integrity of communists who remain unyielding and prepared to die for their cause. Finding nothing, the Kuomintang agents stuffed Zhang Yingchun into a hemp sack filled with lime and stabbed her to death with bayonets. Her body was secretly transported by car that very night to under the Jiulong Bridge outside Tongji Gate and dumped into the Qinhuai River. Zhang Yingchun was only 27 years old when she died.

In the year following Zhang Yingchun’s martyrdom, Liu Yazi searched for her remains but was unsuccessful. Together with his close friend Shen Changmei and Zhang’s relatives, he built a cenotaph in Lili and invited Yu Youren to inscribe the “Alas, the Monument in Memory of Lady Qiushi.” The tomb was completed in 1931. For the burial, a dressing case was used to represent the head, along with hats, clothes, shoes, and socks as burial objects. The tomb is located on Beilian Dangtan in Lixing Village, facing south toward the north, symbolizing her orientation toward Nanjing—the place of her martyrdom. Before liberation, although the Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun endured many trials, it remained intact thanks to the careful protection of the local people. In the early years after liberation, Liu Yazi, busy with national affairs in Beijing, remained deeply concerned about commemorating and honoring Zhang Yingchun. In April 1950, Liberation Daily and Xinmin Evening News, among others, opened special columns publishing articles by comrades such as Lu Dingyi to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the martyrdom of Zhang Yingchun, Hou Shaokui, and others. In 1955, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central People’s Government, issued the Glorious Memorial Certificate for Revolutionary Martyrs’ Families to Zhang Yingchun’s family. Since then, the Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun has received attention from Party committees and governments at all levels and has been renovated multiple times. In 1980, it was listed as a cultural relics protection unit of Wujiang County. In 1981, the Beishe Township Party Committee organized local volunteers to expand the less-than-30-square-meter cemetery to 1,052 square meters. In 1986, a memorial room for Zhang Yingchun was newly built west of the martyrs’ tomb. In 1992, a white marble bust of Martyr Zhang Yingchun was erected in the courtyard of the memorial room. The front of the base bore the inscription “Martyr Zhang Yingchun Lives Forever” by General Zhang Aiping, and the back featured an inscription erected by the Wujiang County People’s Government. In April of the same year, the memorial room was converted into a memorial hall, with the plaque “Martyrs' Memorial Hall of Zhang Yingchun” inscribed by Lu Dingyi. Later, the cemetery area was expanded southward to a total of 7,030 square meters, and underwent renovation and landscaping. The entire site was planted with cypress, camphor, and metasequoia trees, creating lush greenery. On April 19, 1995, the Martyrs' Tomb of Zhang Yingchun was listed as a Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit. That same year in April and September, the tomb and memorial hall were respectively named “Wujiang Youth Patriotic Education Base” by the Wujiang Municipal Party Committee and Government and “Patriotic Education Base” by the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and Government.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units