Xining Martyrs' Cemetery

Xining Martyrs' Cemetery

Xining Martyrs' Cemetery is a classic red tourism destination and a patriotic education base.

Xining Martyrs' Cemetery is situated by the Nan Chuan River in Xining and at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. Constructed in 1954, it spans more than 70 acres. It is a national-level protected site for martyrs' memorial buildings and functions as a patriotic education base at the national, provincial, and municipal levels. Each year, it welcomes nearly 734,000 visitors, with over 60% being youths. The cemetery currently employs 44 staff members and operates as a fully funded public institution. For over 50 years, Xining Martyrs' Cemetery has upheld the mission of "honoring the martyrs and educating future generations," playing a significant role in patriotic education and the promotion of socialist spiritual civilization. As a national-level memorial building protection unit, it mainly consists of the Revolutionary Martyrs Monument, the gateway arch, the memorial archway, the Western Route Army Monument, and the Western Route Army Mass Grave. Within the martyrs' section, over a thousand revolutionary martyrs and comrades who sacrificed their lives during the war and after liberation are buried. Among them, the history exhibited in the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Western Route Army Memorial Hall is a tragic, immortal, and moving heroic epic. In October 1936, after the convergence of the First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in Huining, Gansu, the headquarters of the Fourth Front Army along with its Ninth, Thirtieth, and Fifth Armies—totaling 21,800 soldiers—were ordered to cross the Yellow River westward. On November 10, they formed the Western Route Army. Under the command of Chen Changhao and Xu Xiangqian, they advanced into the Hexi Corridor. Noticing the strategic presence of the Red Army in northwestern China, Chiang Kai-shek urgently ordered Ma Bufang, the warlord controlling Gansu and Qinghai provinces, to muster over 100,000 troops to block and suppress the Western Route Army. During these battles, under extremely harsh conditions, the Red Army soldiers fought bravely for nearly five months, eliminating over 25,000 enemy troops. However, due to fighting in isolation and facing overwhelming enemy forces, they were ultimately defeated. More than 5,600 Red Army soldiers from the Western Route Army were captured after running out of ammunition and supplies. They suffered brutal persecution and torture under Ma Bufang’s reactionary regime. Over 300 were killed en route to captivity, more than 1,000 were buried alive, and over 3,900 were subjected to forced labor like cattle. The heroic Red Army soldiers remained resolute and unyielding in the face of the enemy, continuing their struggle and writing a magnificent chapter in revolutionary history. Comrade Sun Yuqing, commander of the Ninth Red Army, and several thousand officers and soldiers died as martyrs. Over 400 women from the Western Route Army Women's Independent Regiment were captured by Ma’s forces and subjected to inhuman torment. More than 200 were given as servants or concubines to subordinate officers by Ma Bufang himself, enduring abuse and suffering. The remains of 517 martyrs of the Western Route Army are buried in the cemetery’s martyrs’ burial ground.

Source: Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China