Chen Xintao Monument

Chen Xintao Monument

The Chen Xintao Monument is a national key cultural relic protection unit and a patriotic education base.

The Chen Xintao Monument is located on Jiulong Mountain in Nanshan Town, Sanshui District, Foshan City. It is a key cultural relic protection unit of Foshan and a patriotic education base of the city.

After graduating from the Department of Biology at Fujian Union University in 1925, Chen Xintao taught at Lingnan University in Guangzhou. In 1928, he went to the University of Minnesota in the United States to study parasitology and earned his master's degree in 1929. Later, he pursued further studies in "comparative pathology" at the renowned Harvard Medical School in the United States and obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1931. After completing his studies, he declined the strong retention offers from the schools and returned to Lingnan University to teach, serving as the head of the Department of Biology and the director of the Institute of Science.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Party and the state placed great emphasis on the prevention and treatment of schistosomiasis. Chairman Mao Zedong called for the eradication of the disease. In 1950, Chen Xintao responded actively to the call and came to work in the schistosomiasis epidemic areas of Samsui and Xinhui in Guangdong, becoming one of the earliest and most accomplished schistosomiasis control scientists in China. After much hardship, he was the first to detect Oncomelania snails in the Guangdong region. Later, through animal infection experiments, the existence of a schistosomiasis epidemic area in Guangdong was confirmed. After discovering and identifying the prevalence of schistosomiasis in Guangdong Province, Chen Xintao worked tirelessly for over 20 years to understand the ecology, physiology, and patterns of Oncomelania snails and the characteristics of the disease’s spread in Guangdong. He also conducted extensive research on the diagnosis, treatment, and human protection against schistosomiasis. Based on these foundational theoretical studies, Chen Xintao proposed a comprehensive set of strategic ideas and plans tailored to the characteristics of South China, ranging from controlling the epidemic to eradicating the disease. He also introduced integrated management measures centered on the elimination of Oncomelania snails, making Guangdong the first province in the country to eradicate schistosomiasis and completely drive away the “plague god.” Chen Xintao made significant contributions to the eradication of schistosomiasis and received attention and praise from the international medical community. In 1956, he attended the National 10-Year Scientific Research Planning Conference, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and the Supreme State Conference in Beijing, where he was received three times by Chairman Mao Zedong. In the same year, a Soviet medical science delegation visited China and spoke highly of the experimental research work of the Parasitology Research Laboratory led by Chen Xintao, as well as the prevention and treatment of schistosomiasis in Guangdong.

His hard work and great achievements have left a lasting legacy. For decades, Chen Xintao struggled diligently for the Party and the country, and his contributions will never be forgotten by the Party and the people. The Samsui of the past, described as “villages overgrown with vines, with people’s excrement everywhere, and households desolate, haunted by ghosts,” has now become a prosperous modern town. “Sending away the plague god and remembering the late professor,” the people of Samsui have never forgotten Professor Chen Xintao, who made tremendous contributions to them. To commemorate Professor Chen Xintao and express the respect of the local people in the epidemic areas at that time, in 1990, the People’s Government of Sanshui County and the People’s Government of Liuhe Town in Guangdong Province built the “Chen Xintao Monument” at the site of the former key epidemic area (now Jiulong Mountain in Nanshan Town). The monument has now become a key cultural relic protection unit of Foshan and a patriotic education base of the city.

Address: Jiulong Mountain, Nanshan Town, Sanshui District, Foshan City

Contact Number: 87213200 (Liuhé Village Committee, Nanshan Town, Sanshui District)

Transportation: Go to the Samsui Bus Station, take the bus to Liuhé Village Committee, get off at Jǐnhé Shānzhuāng near Gǎnzuǐ, and walk straight ahead from there.

Chen Xintao (1904–1977), born in Caoyang Village, Songji Township, on March 19, 1904 (the 30th year of the Guangxu reign). In 1925 (the 14th year of the Republic of China), he graduated from the Department of Biology at Fujian Union University and was soon hired by Lingnan University in Guangzhou. In 1928 (the 17th year of the Republic of China), he was sent to study in the United States, where he spent a year studying parasitology at the University of Minnesota and earned a master’s degree in parasitology. In 1929 (the 18th year of the Republic of China), he transferred to Harvard Medical School for further studies and earned a Ph.D. in comparative pathology in 1931 (the 20th year of the Republic of China). In July of the same year, he returned to China and served as a professor of parasitology and bacteriology at the Medical College of Lingnan University, as well as the head of the Department of Biology... More details about Chen Xintao++

Liuhe Village: Liuhe Village... More details about Liuhe Village++