Tomb of the Martyrs of the Gengzi Revolution

Tomb of the Martyrs of the Gengzi Revolution

The Tomb of the Martyrs of the Gengzi Revolution is a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province and a classic red tourism site.

The Tomb of the Martyrs of the Gengzi Revolution is situated on the northern slope of the eastern part of Hongshan Mountain in Wuchang. Enter through the north gate on Bayi Road of the Hubei Provincial Military District to reach it. In 1900 (the 26th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty), in opposition to Empress Dowager Cixi and in an effort to reform China’s political system, the Self-Strengthening Army planned an uprising in Hankou. The plot was leaked, and its leaders, including Tang Caichang, Fu Cixiang, and Lin Gui, were executed by the Qing government. Tang Caichang and seven other martyrs were initially buried in a simple grave on the northern slope of Hongshan. In April 1912, when Sun Yat-sen visited Hubei, to honor the historical contributions of the Self-Strengthening Army and to comfort the families of the martyrs, he had the remains of 21 Self-Strengthening Army martyrs, including Tang Caichang, reinterred here. A stone stele inscribed with “Tomb of the Martyrs of the Gengzi Revolution, Spirit of Iron and Blood” was erected, and a cemetery was built. The Gengzi Martyrs’ Tomb faces south and is built against the mountain. It consists of a memorial archway, a tomb path, and the burial mound. The memorial archway is located within the residential area of the Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, north of Bayi Road in Wuchang, about a hundred meters from the burial mound. The archway has four pillars and three gates, is approximately 11 meters wide, with each pillar about 0.8 meters in width, featuring lotus carvings and standing around 10 meters tall. Above the central gate is a semicircular stone plaque inscribed with eight large characters: “Tomb Path of the Gengzi Revolutionary Martyrs.” It was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province in 1956.

The uprising led by Tang Caichang and others of the Self-Strengthening Army was an armed struggle involving over 100,000 participants in the Yangtze River basin following the Hundred Days' Reform. It directly opposed the conservative faction of the Qing court that held real power, and was of progressive significance at the time. The brave failed, their fates sealed, which made those wavering between reform and revolution suddenly realize that relying on the Qing court to save China was as futile as “asking a tiger for its hide.” They began to loudly call for awakening the public, abandoning illusions of reform, and resolutely embarking on the path of anti-Qing revolution. This contributed to the division of the royalist faction and accelerated the rapid growth of revolutionary forces, laying the foundation for the Wuchang Uprising, the first revolt of the Xinhai Revolution.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hubei Province