Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian

Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian

The Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian is a cultural relic protection unit of Hunan Province, a classic red tourism attraction, and a patriotic education base.

The Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian is located at the foot of Zijin Mountain in Group 2, Jinfeng Village, Nanyao Suburb, Kaiyun Town, Hengshan County, Hengyang City.

Mao Zedijian, female, also known as Mao Daxiang and nicknamed Ju Meizi, was Mao Zedong’s cousin. She was originally from Dongmaotang, Shaoshanchong, Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. Born in October 1905, she joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League in Changsha in 1921, and the Communist Party of China in 1923. Afterward, she engaged in revolutionary work in Hengyang for a long time.

After the Ma Ri Incident in 1927, dispatched by the Hunan Provincial Committee of the CPC, she and her husband Chen Fen came to Hengshan to carry out underground struggles. Fearless of danger, they restored the Hengshan County Committee of the CPC. Chen Fen served as the county party secretary, while Mao Zedijian was the women's movement commissioner and also undertook confidential communication duties for the committee.

In February 1928, Mao Zedijian was transferred from Hengshan to Leiyang to serve as the head of the Leiyang Women’s Federation. On May 5, while leading guerrilla forces in the Xiatangpu area of Leiyang, Mao Zedijian and her husband were surrounded by a large force of the "Aihutuan" (a local militia). The couple was separately captured in Mianhuatang and Gushan. Later, Chen Fen was executed, but Mao Zedijian was rescued during an attack by the Jinggangshan guerrillas on the Leiyang County Militia Bureau and the Xiatangpu Aihutuan. Soon after, Mao Zedijian gave birth to a baby boy and hid in the home of an elderly widow. When the Aihutuan launched another raid and the baby cried, alerting them, Mao Zedijian was captured again.

After her capture, Mao Zedijian was first imprisoned in Leiyang and then transferred to Hengyang. In Hengyang Prison, she was identified by the traitor Peng Zan and sent to Hengshan. She was imprisoned for over a year in total but remained resolute throughout. The enemy subjected her to severe torture—whipping with leather straps, pressing with heavy rods, pouring chili water down her throat, and even piercing her breasts with red-hot iron wires—but she remained defiant. The only words she gave in response to interrogation were: “I don’t know!” Later, when the traitor Peng Zan tried to persuade her to surrender, Mao Zedijian glared at him and rebuked, “For me to betray my beliefs? Only if the sun rises in the west and the Xiang River flows backward.” When the puppet county magistrate of Hengshan, Cai Qingxuan—a veteran in suppressing dissent—personally interrogated her and expressed disbelief that Communists feared death, Mao Zedijian laughed loudly and said, “Revolutionaries do not fear death. Those who fear death should not be Communists.” Before her execution, she wrote a letter to Chen Fen’s sister, Chen Shuyuan: “...My impending death is not surprising. For me personally, it is even a relief. I have endured all the hardships this world has to offer, and can bear no more. Now the repression is widespread—this is something we had long anticipated. Never expect revolution to succeed easily. But the people will eventually be the masters, and the communist cause will triumph. As long as the revolution succeeds, I will have no regrets even in death. At that time, we shall celebrate together in the netherworld.” On August 20, 1929, Mao Zedijian was executed heroically at Mawang Temple Square in Hengshan County. She was 24 years old.

After Mao Zedijian’s martyrdom, the enemy strictly ordered that her body not be collected for three days. However, that very night, the underground party organization arranged for a wooden coffin from Tongshantang and initially buried her by the riverside near the willow trees at Shixi Bridge on the outskirts of Hengshan County. They placed a bluestone brick inscribed with Mao Zedijian’s name on the coffin lid. Half a year later, the underground party secretly made another wooden coffin and moved her remains to be reburied at the foot of Jinzi Peak. A stone bridge slab was used as a grave marker and buried deep underground. In the early years of the People’s Republic of China, Qu Miaocheng, who had participated in the initial burial of Mao Zedijian while working underground in Hengshan, visited the site twice to search for her grave but was unsuccessful. In 1966, the Hengshan County Committee of the CPC assigned personnel to locate the martyr’s tomb. On November 25, they finally discovered a half-exposed gravestone bearing the character “Mao” in a patch of overgrown grass at Tuzi’ao at the foot of Jinzi Peak. Upon excavation, the full inscription read: “Published in the 18th Year of the Republic [1929], Tomb of Madam Mao Daxiang, originally from Xiangtan.” Further verification confirmed this was Mao Zedijian’s tomb. On August 20, 1968, the Hengshan County Committee of the CPC held a foundation-laying ceremony for the construction of the Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian. Construction began soon after. On August 20, 1969, the 40th anniversary of Mao Zedijian’s martyrdom, the cemetery was officially completed. In August 1976, the General Office of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee replied with document No. Xiangbanhan (1976) 4, approving the “relocation of the original tomb of Martyr Mao Zedijian to a newly built memorial site after photographic documentation.” On September 1, the Hengshan County Committee relocated Mao Zedijian’s remains to the new tomb.

The Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian, expanded from her original tomb, is entirely constructed of granite and white marble. On both sides of the cemetery gate are inscribed a couplet from a line of Mao Zedong’s poetry: “For there is sacrifice, there is great determination; we dare to teach the sun and moon to change the sky.” On either side of the couplet are two other quotes by Mao: one reads “To die for the nation is to live forever,” and the other “To die for the people is to never truly die.” Entering through the gate, there is a walkway consisting of stone steps and a cement path, lined on both sides with rows of straight privet trees, as well as green pines, cypresses, orange groves, flowers, and green lawns. At the end of the walkway is a raised platform, on the front wall of which are inscribed four solemn characters: “Heavier Than Mount Tai.” On both sides of the platform are over ten stone steps. Climbing these leads to a tomb plaza that can accommodate hundreds of people, dedicated to mourning and remembrance. On either side of the plaza are granite tablets inlaid with white marble inscribed with quotes. In the central rear area of the plaza stands the Martyrs' Memorial Tower dedicated to Mao Zedijian—the main structure of the cemetery. The base of the tower is inscribed with “1905–1929,” marking her birth and death years. The front of the tower bears nine bold characters: “The Martyrs' Spirit of Mao Zedijian Lives Forever,” above which is embedded a portrait of the martyr. Atop the tower is a bright red torch, flanked by the numbers “2” and “4,” together signifying her age of 24 at the time of her death. Behind the tower are eight steel-framed characters reading “The People’s Heroes Live Forever,” and further back lies the tomb that houses Mao Zedijian’s remains. The entire cemetery is majestic, solemn, simple, and dignified.

In 2005, on the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedijian’s birth, the Hengshan County Committee and County Government built a new memorial square in the Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian and also established a “Mao Zedijian Martyr Exhibition Room” at the Mao Zedong Hengshan Peasant Movement Research Memorial Hall in Kangwang Temple, Hengyang County.

The tomb of Mao Zedijian was designated as a provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit by the Hunan Provincial Revolutionary Committee in September 1972; the Martyrs' Cemetery of Mao Zedijian was recognized as a Hunan Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Publicity Department of the Hunan Provincial Committee in July 2010.