The Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution

The Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution

The Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

The Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution is located at the northwest corner of People's Park in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

In May 1911, during the third year of the reign of the Qing Emperor Xuantong, the Qing government announced the "nationalization of railways" policy, seizing the construction rights of the Canton-Hankou and Sichuan-Hankou railways—which had been entrusted to private management—and selling them to banking consortia from imperialist powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. The people of Hunan, Guangdong, Hubei, and Sichuan rose up in opposition, organizing railway protection societies and launching the Railway Protection Movement. They engaged in protests, strikes, grain refusal, and tax resistance, with the movement in Sichuan being the largest in scale, involving hundreds of thousands of participants. On September 7 of the same year, Zhao Erfeng, the Governor-General of Sichuan, arrested leaders of the Railway Protection Society such as Pu Dianjun and Luo Lun, and ordered the massacre of hundreds of protesting civilians, creating the “Chengdu Massacre.” This sparked even greater public outrage, prompting members of the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) such as Long Mingjian to organize the Railway Protection Army and launch armed uprisings across the province, which became a catalyst for the Xinhai Revolution.

The Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution was built in 1913. Facing south, it is constructed of brick and stone in a square pyramid shape, consisting of a base platform, pedestal, main body, and top. It stands 31.85 meters tall. The base is cylindrical; the pedestal is square with four tiers, featuring bas-reliefs of locomotives and railway tracks around its sides; the main body is square pyramidal, with four sides inlaid with long strips of bluestone engraved in four different calligraphic styles with the ten large characters “Monument to the Martyrs of the Railway Protection Movement in the Autumn of the Xinhai Revolution.” Each character is one meter square, inscribed by late Qing and early Republican-era Sichuan calligraphers Zhao Xi, Yan Kai, Wu Bojie, and Zhang Kuijie. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)

In 1961, the monument was designated as a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit; in 1988, it was listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit; in 1993, it was established as an Educational Base for Youth in Chengdu; and in 1995, it was designated as a Patriotic Education Base in Chengdu.

Protected area: 10 meters beyond the base.

Construction control zone: 10 meters beyond the protected area.

Address: Northwest corner of People's Park, Qingyang District, Chengdu

Type: Monument

Recommended visiting time: 20–30 minutes

Opening hours:

Open all day

Ticket information:

No admission fee.

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Further reading:

· Third Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units