Ye Ping Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower

Ye Ping Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower

The Ye Ping Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower is a cultural tourism attraction and a classic red tourism site.

The Ye Ping Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower is located in Ye Ping Village, Ye Ping Town, Ruijin County, Jiangxi Province. The memorial tower stands 13 meters tall, with a pentagonal base and a shell-shaped main body. The numerous small stones covering the tower symbolize the countless revolutionary martyrs who united as one. The base of the tower is inlaid with ten stone tablets, including inscriptions from leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Bo Gu, Xiang Ying, Luo Fu, Wang Jiaxiang, Kai Feng, and Deng Fa, as well as the tower's commemorative plaque. In front of the tower, the ground is paved with coal cinders forming eight bold characters: “March Forward on the Bloodstains of the Martyrs,” creating a complete composition with the memorial tower that expresses the profound reverence and remembrance of the people in the Soviet Area for the martyrs.

The Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower was built by the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic to honor the martyrs and perpetually commemorate the Red Army officers and soldiers who sacrificed their lives in revolutionary wars over the years. Its construction was decided at the 45th meeting of the Central People's Committee on July 11, 1933. It was designed by Qian Zhuangfei, with Liang Botai serving as the engineering supervisor.

Construction of the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower began on August 1, 1933. Shortly after the project started, a wave of voluntary donations swept across the Central Soviet Area. The Disabled Soldiers' Hospital of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army donated 21.296 yuan, and the Political Department of the Directly Affiliated Hospital donated 8.71 yuan. Among the donors, the story of Xie Yihui, an elderly man from Ye Ping Village, Ruijin, is particularly unforgettable. At the time, he was over 60 years old and had only one son, who had joined the Red Army and died a glorious death during the Fourth Encirclement Campaign. With only himself and his wife left at home, Xie Yihui donated three silver dollars he had saved for years to buy a coffin. In this way, from cadres to soldiers, from servicemen to farmers, everyone tightened their belts, donating one, two, or even fractions of a yuan or cent from their limited allowances and rations to support the construction of the memorial tower.

On the morning of February 2, 1934, at 8 a.m., the Central Soviet Government held a grand unveiling ceremony for the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower here. Zhu De, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, stepped onto the tower base and recounted the Red Army’s heroic struggles since Jinggangshan, the sacrifices of 500,000 to 600,000 revolutionaries massacred by the Kuomintang over the years, and the deaths of Red Army leaders such as Zhao Boseng and Huang Gonglue. Zhu De concluded by calling on everyone to inherit the martyrs’ will, march forward on their bloodstains, and completely crush the enemy’s Fifth Encirclement Campaign.

In October 1934, after the main force of the Red Army embarked on the Long March, the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower was demolished by the enemy. Amid grief and anger, local residents risked their lives to remove the only intact character “Martyr (烈)” from the tower and took it home to hide, preserving it until the liberation of the nation. To restore the historical appearance, the memorial tower was reconstructed on the original site in 1955 according to its original design, and in 1961, it was listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Today, the Red Army Martyrs' Memorial Tower has become a scenic highlight and an important symbol of the Red Capital Ruijin, as well as a place where later generations pay heartfelt tribute to the revolutionary martyrs. Every Qingming Festival, students come to pay their respects, and when central leaders visit Ruijin, they first lay wreaths at the memorial tower to express their reverence for the martyrs. Indeed, every stone of the memorial tower carries the spirit of the martyrs and records the touching stories of how the people of the Soviet Area made selfless contributions and sacrifices for the victory of the Chinese revolution. Old Yang Rongxian from Shazhouba, Ruijin, had eight sons. During the height of the Fifth Encirclement Campaign, he resolutely responded to the government’s call to expand the Red Army and sent all of them to join. Tragically, none of the eight sons survived; all died on the battlefield. The people of the Soviet Area made enormous sacrifices for the Soviet Republic. At that time, the population of southern Jiangxi’s Soviet Area was only 2.4 million, yet 330,000 joined the Red Army, about 600,000 participated in supporting roles such as the militia and laundry teams, and more than 108,200 named martyrs sacrificed their lives for the revolution. Among them, Ruijin County had a population of just 240,000, but 49,000 joined the Red Army, and 17,166 named martyrs died for the revolution. After the Long March, the people of the Soviet Area faced brutal retaliation from the enemy, and many areas became “bloodbathed villages” or “ghost villages.” The devastation was as described in a report by the Kuomintang: “No houses left unburned, no trees left uncut, no chickens or dogs left alive, no able-bodied men left, no smoke from kitchens, and only the wailing of ghosts in the fields.”