Huangpu Niushan Massacre Pit Site

Huangpu Niushan Massacre Pit Site

The Huangpu Niushan Massacre Pit Site is a protected cultural heritage site of Guangzhou Municipality.

Massacre Pit: A Site of Japanese Atrocities Against Resisting Civilians

During the Japanese occupation of Guangzhou, the invading forces rampantly arrested and brutally slaughtered local residents. Near the pit by Niushan Fort, large numbers of civilians were killed, and the site became known as the "Massacre Pit." According to local witnesses, the Japanese military would round up innocent Chinese civilians, transport them in military vehicles driven by the Kempeitai to the area near Niushan Fort. Upon arrival, the area was heavily guarded with numerous Japanese sentries. Before the killings, the Japanese executioners would drink strong liquor to steel themselves, then forcibly drag the civilians to the edge of the pit and force them to kneel. They would stick an incense stick into the back of each victim before using sharp military swords to behead or slash them, then kick the bodies into the pit.

According to the *Guangzhou Annals*, Chen Rongji (1908–1990), an elderly survivor of the resistance and resident of Wenchong Village in Huangpu, recalled: “Apart from slaughtering Chinese soldiers and civilians at Niushan, the Japanese also carried out countless hangings and massacres of resistance fighters and local people under the two century-old banyan trees at the intersection of Dasha Road in Huangpu and the entrance to the former Petroleum Chemical Factory Guesthouse. The Japanese puppet regime also forcibly conscripted able-bodied men to serve as puppet soldiers or laborers, treating them as cannon fodder or slaves—no better than cattle or horses—and slaughtering them at will. The Japanese employed over 20 brutal methods of execution, including skinning, hanging, clubbing, heart extraction, beheading, dismemberment, dog attacks, ‘sky lanterns’ (a form of torture involving setting the victim on fire), and nailing limbs.”

The Huangpu Niushan Massacre Pit Site stands as a historical testament to the mass slaughter of civilians by the Japanese invaders, and was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage protection site in 1989.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Heritage Protection Units