Red Martyrs' Cemetery

Red Martyrs' Cemetery

The Red Martyrs' Cemetery is a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province and a classic red tourism site.

The Red Soldiers' Cemetery is located on Tortoise Hill in Hanyang District, Wuhan.

After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, the Nationalist Wuhan Garrison Command carried out frenzied massacres of Communists and revolutionary masses in Wuhan. By the spring of 1929, nearly a thousand Communists, revolutionaries, and revolutionary masses had been killed. After the martyrs were sacrificed, some of their remains were claimed and buried by family members or relatives, while others were left unclaimed and discarded at execution grounds. Witnessing the harrowing sight of the martyrs’ bodies exposed on the execution grounds with no one to collect them, the Communist Party member Chen Chunhe, regardless of his own safety, led several workers multiple times to row across the river under the cover of night, sneaking into execution sites such as the square of Jisheng Charitable Hall in Hankou, the open space at Yujili, and outside Wuchang’s Wenchang Gate. He risked danger to gather the remains of the fallen martyrs, transported them to Hanyang by boat, and secretly buried them in a mountain hollow to the right of Bugan Pavilion at the southwestern foot of Tortoise Hill. Large stones were also buried as markers, and the names of the martyrs were recorded. Later, Chen Chunhe and others were also killed by the reactionary Nationalists, and the list of martyrs was lost. Posterity only knows that Chen Chunhe buried the remains of hundreds of martyrs near Bugan Pavilion on Tortoise Hill, among whom were outstanding Communists such as Xiang Jingyu, Ma Junshan, Zhao Shidang, Chen Qike, and He Yudao. These fallen martyrs were called Red Soldiers, and their burial site became widely known early on as the “Red Soldiers’ Cemetery.” As early as 1938, during the initial stages of the nationwide War of Resistance Against Japan, staff from the Eighth Route Army Wuhan Office paid their respects at the Red Soldiers’ Cemetery.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the government renovated the martyrs’ cemetery and built a nearby “Red Square” named after the cemetery. In 1955, due to the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the martyrs’ remains were relocated to Bian Dan Mountain in Hanyang. In October 1986, based on the suggestions of municipal deputies, the Wuhan Municipal People’s Government moved the Red Soldiers’ Cemetery to Tortoise Hill. In August 2009, the Hubei Provincial and Wuhan Municipal Governments carried out renovations and restorations of the Red Soldiers’ Cemetery.

The Red Soldiers’ Cemetery was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province by the Hubei Provincial People’s Committee in November 1956, and as a Hubei Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Hubei Provincial People’s Government in March 1995.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units in Hubei Province