Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial Tower

Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial Tower

Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial Tower is a protected cultural heritage site of Hunan Province.

Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial Tower

Built in 1947. Located atop Yeping Mountain in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, this is a commemorative structure honoring the heroic resistance of Hengyang’s military and civilians during the war.

In 1944, after capturing Changsha, the Japanese invaders launched an offensive against Hengyang with a force of 100,000 troops. The local military and civilians rose up to fight back. From June 23 to August 8, they killed approximately 20,000 enemies, wounded 60,000, while nearly 20,000 of our own troops and civilians were killed or injured—despite Hengyang having only 20,000 defenders at the time. They fiercely resisted the assault of over 100,000 enemy troops, fighting alone for 47 days before being completely overwhelmed, writing an extremely tragic yet heroic chapter in China’s anti-Japanese war history. This battle delayed the Japanese strategic plan to open up a land transportation route across the mainland, benefiting the overall war situation. At the time, Chongqing’s Xinhua Daily published an editorial titled “Salute to the Defenders of Hengyang.” Approved by the Nanjing Nationalist Government, the foundation-laying ceremony for Hengyang as an Anti-Japanese War City was held on August 10, 1947, along with the construction of the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Tower, which was completed on April 15, 1948.

The tower is built from a combination of brick and stone, standing 18.16 meters tall. Its base is octagonal, 1.5 meters high with 4-meter sides, surrounded by stone railings. The pedestal is 4.3 meters high with 2-meter sides. The main body of the tower is rectangular, with white marble plaques embedded on the north and south sides, inscribed with “Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial City.” These inscriptions were added during renovations in 1984 and were penned by Cheng Xingling, then Chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference. On both sides in front of the tower are memorial pavilions with a wooden and stone structure, featuring six angles, six pillars, upturned eaves, a pointed roof, covered in green glazed tiles, and topped with a treasure vase. The stone memorial archway at the northern foot has four pillars and three gates, with the horizontal beam inscribed with the word “Resistance.”

On May 19, 2002, the People’s Government of Hunan Province designated it as a provincial-level cultural heritage site, with the reference number 9-9.

Source: Overview of Cultural Relics in Hunan