Shihé Martyrs' Cemetery

Shihé Martyrs' Cemetery

Shihé Martyrs' Cemetery is a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province.

Shihé Martyrs' Cemetery is located on Maxi Street in Shihé Town, Tianmen City. On November 4, 1942, under the command of Zhou Zhijian, commander of the 15th Brigade of the New Fourth Army’s 5th Division, and Wang Haishan, deputy commander of the Xiangbei Military Sub-district, parts of the 43rd Regiment, 44th Regiment, and 39th Regiment of the 13th Brigade were organized to attack Zengjiawan. They lured the relief forces of the stubborn puppet 128th Division, the Shi Yaoxian Regiment, to the area around Shijiahe and Maxi River, employing the tactic of encircling the stronghold to strike the relieving forces. Over 70 enemy troops were killed and more than 90 injured, with the remaining forces fleeing. During the battle, 156 officers and soldiers, including Lin Guangyao, chief of staff of the 43rd Regiment, and Zheng Mingqiang, a battalion commander, sacrificed their lives heroically. To commemorate their fallen comrades, the 43rd Regiment of the New Fourth Army’s 5th Division, in the name of all its soldiers, erected a stele inscribed with the words “Renowned Across Yu and E” on November 15. The central part of the stele features bold regular script reading “Martyrs Who Died for the Country Monument,” while the left side lists the names, hometowns, and positions of the martyrs, and the right side bears a seven-character poem. Originally erected at the head of Maxi Bridge, this stele survived the War of Resistance and the Central Plains Campaign thanks to the local guerrilla forces who “hid and re-erected it three times,” protecting it from destruction by Japanese puppet troops and Kuomintang forces, and it remains well-preserved to this day.

On June 14, 1961, the Tianmen County Committee designated the “Renowned Across Yu and E” Martyrs’ Monument as a key cultural relic under protection. To honor the revolutionary martyrs, the Shihé District Committee moved the monument from Maxi Bridge to a large cypress grove 500 meters west of Maxi River and built a hexagonal pavilion with upturned eaves to house it. In 1963, the Shihé District and County Committees engraved the names of 359 martyrs who had sacrificed their lives in various revolutionary wars in the region onto two separate stone tablets, placing one on the east and the other on the west side of the “Renowned Across Yu and E” Monument. In 1975, the site was expanded into a martyrs' cemetery, with a new hexagonal pavilion and an exhibition room dedicated to the deeds of the martyrs. In 1993, it was listed as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit and also serves as a municipal-level revolutionary tradition education base.

Shihé Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Tianmen City. Established as Shihé District in 1955 and upgraded to a town in 1987. It is located in the northern part of the city, 13 kilometers from downtown Tianmen. The town covers an area of 106 square kilometers with a population of 59,000. It has two rivers: the East River (referred to as the Jinshui in Commentary on the Water Classic and locally called Shijiahe) and the West River (referred to as the Yangshui in Commentary on the Water Classic and locally called Maxi River). The Tianmen-Xianchang Highway runs through the territory. The town administers the following areas: East River, Pailing, Tangli, Xiaxin, Hudang, Luling, Longwang, Jiepai, West River, Shihé, Zhusi, Wuwan, Yangling, Hua Wan, Wuliu, Yao Ling, Shimiao, Sunchong, Zhangxiang, Zhuge, Li... More detailed information about Shihé Town ++