Niu Zhuang Martyrs' Shrine

Niu Zhuang Martyrs' Shrine

The Niu Zhuang Martyrs' Shrine is a cultural relic protection unit of Shandong Province, as well as a patriotic and national defense education base.

The Niu Zhuang Martyrs' Shrine was built in July 1945, located 25 kilometers southwest of the Dongying District government seat. It was established by the CPC Bohai Military District to commemorate the heroic anti-Japanese martyrs who sacrificed their lives. Today, the shrine has become a patriotic education base and an important site for promoting the core socialist values.

The shrine is generally a quadrangle courtyard structure made of earth, wood, and stone, with a memorial archway-style gate. Atop the gate stands a statue of an anti-Japanese soldier holding a rifle, and the central lintel bears a plaque inscribed with the words “Enduring Spirit.” The main hall serves as the shrine’s chapel, measuring 30 meters wide from east to west and 50 meters long from north to south, with a total area of 1,500 square meters and divided into five sections. Inside the chapel stand ten marble martyr memorial steles, engraved with the names of 3,914 anti-Japanese martyrs in neat and elegant regular script. The front wall of the main hall features three horizontal plaques inscribed with phrases such as “Majestic as the Mountains and Rivers,” while the side walls display plaques reading “Loyal, Brave, and Heroic” and “Eternal Glory.” Each of the east and west wing rooms has nine bays and houses textual and pictorial displays. The southern room is divided into eastern and western sections by the gate tower. The western four bays exhibit introductions to the deeds of martyrs such as Liu Liangcai and Yue Zhuoyuan, early CPC members, and house 55 couplets, memorial drapes, and plaques sent by local party, government, military, and civilian groups from across the Bohai District of the CPC during that time. The eastern four bays display the ashes of revolutionary martyrs from the area who sacrificed their lives in battles and disaster relief efforts after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Dongying District People's Government built the Yue Zhuoyuan Martyrs' Monument inside the Niu Zhuang Martyrs' Shrine to commemorate Martyr Yue Zhuoyuan.

A grand unveiling ceremony was held on April 13, 1996.

In 1984, the Dongying District People's Government designated it as a key cultural relic protection unit.

In December 2000, the Shandong Provincial National Defense Education Committee named it an “Advanced Unit of National Education Base.”

In November 2005, the Publicity Department of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee designated it a “Shandong Provincial Patriotic Education Base.”

In 2007, the Publicity Department of the CPC Dongying Municipal Committee designated it a “Dongying Municipal Education Base.”

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units