Tanggu Ten Thousand People's Pit Memorial

Tanggu Ten Thousand People's Pit Memorial

The Tanggu Ten Thousand People's Pit Memorial serves as a patriotic education base.

On the north bank of the Tanggu section of the Haihe River stands a massive memorial. It was erected in 1992 by the former Tanggu District Government. The base of the memorial is built from black marble, resembling a tomb, while the main structure consists of three towering white marble pillars, the tallest of which in the center reaches 16 meters. The base is inscribed with six powerful characters reading “Memorial to the Ten Thousand People’s Pit” and heart-wrenching text, symbolizing that beneath the black marble “tomb” lie the remains of thousands of laborers. Behind the tomb, pure white marble pillars stand like a sword piercing the sky, denouncing the crimes committed by Japanese militarism in China. The stone walls on either side of the tomb depict the dismemberment of human bodies and the devastation of the nation. A circular steel object suspended above the tomb by two iron chains symbolizes both a wreath and a warning bell—mourning the victims while reminding future generations that such a tragic history must never be forgotten.

After the “July 7th Incident,” Japanese militarists, desperate to address the severe labor shortage caused by mass conscription, began abducting laborers from China. At the time, Tianjin served as a transit hub for the Japanese military’s forced recruitment of laborers. Civilians from North China were rounded up en masse, crammed into sealed train cars, and transported to Tanggu before being shipped to Japan to work as forced labor. These “cattle cars” had sealed doors and windows, and many did not survive the journey due to hunger, thirst, suffocation, and heat. The Japanese military also conducted bacterial experiments on the laborers, burning alive those who fell ill during the tests, labeling them as “plague victims.” Due to the brutality of Japanese fascism, large numbers of laborers died daily from disease, thirst, starvation, beatings, or were even burned alive. Many were buried alive, still breathing. Over time, these tragic deaths accumulated, forming the horrifying “Ten Thousand People’s Pit.” According to statistics, between 1943 and 1945 alone, the Japanese military forcibly transported 169 batches of laborers from China, totaling over 38,500 people, most of whom were shipped through Tianjin Port to mainland Japan. Of those taken to Japan, 6,830 died, 6,975 were injured, and 4,610 were disabled.

The site of the Tanggu Ten Thousand People's Pit Memorial, where thousands of Chinese laborers tortured by Japanese invaders are buried, stands as irrefutable evidence of Japan’s atrocities against the Chinese people. In 1994, it was designated as a Tianjin Municipal Patriotic Education Base by the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.

Address of the Tanggu Ten Thousand People's Pit Memorial: Tanggu “Ten Thousand People’s Pit” Site, Xingang Road, Binhai New Area. Open to the public free of charge all day.