Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

The Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is a classic red tourism destination and a patriotic education base.

The Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is located in Xishan Village, Wugen Town, Wenling City, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province (a county-level cultural relics protection unit).

In the autumn of 1928, the Wenling County Committee of the Communist Party of China, in accordance with the spirit of the August 7th Meeting, sent standing committee member Liu Kumin and others to Wugen, 15 kilometers from the county seat, to establish a revolutionary base. In April 1929, Party branches were successively established in Jietou, Xishan Village, Yangcheng, and Siji in Wugen, and the masses were mobilized to carry out struggles against rent and local despots. Later, through fundraising to buy weapons, confiscating landlord arms, and reorganizing bandit forces, the first peasant armed force—the Red Guards—was established, which gradually developed into a guerrilla brigade. In July 1930, it was reorganized as the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and in August expanded into the Second Red Regiment, with Liu Kumin as the main leader. It consisted of three guerrilla brigades in Wugen, Qingyu, and Chumen (at sea), a directly affiliated special operations team, and the Tiantai guerrilla team, with a total of more than 700 members (excluding the Tiantai guerrilla brigade). Under the suppression of the Kuomintang, the Second Red Regiment engaged in dozens of battles of various scales, including five relatively large-scale anti-encirclement battles, during which over 150 soldiers gave their lives, and leading cadres such as Liu Kumin were successively martyred.

In 1985, the Wenling County Committee and County People's Government of the Communist Party of China, together with the Wugen Township Committee and Township People's Government, established the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in Wugen, covering an area of over 25 acres. The cemetery complex includes an entrance sculpture, a memorial monument, a memorial hall, a memorial pavilion, and martyr tombs. The memorial monument is 15.5 meters high, with the inscription on the front personally written by Zhang Aiping, then Minister of National Defense. The cemetery houses the remains and personal effects of 18 martyrs, including leaders of the Second Red Regiment such as Liu Kumin and Zhao Sheng. The Red Second Regiment Memorial Hall was completed on May 29, 1998, with a construction area of 483 square meters. The first floor of the memorial hall includes a historical documentation room and a rest and lecture hall, which features a simulated sand table of the former activity area and a full set of audiovisual equipment; the second floor is an exhibition hall displaying over 80 pieces (sets) of simulated images and relics of the martyrs, showcasing the heroic journey of the Second Red Regiment’s armed struggle.

The Martyrs' Cemetery of the Second Regiment of the 13th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was designated as a Zhejiang Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Publicity Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee in October 2004.

Source: Zhejiang Provincial Party History Research and Documentation Office