Site of the Taiji Mass Grave

Site of the Taiji Mass Grave

The Site of the Taiji Mass Grave is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Site of the Taiji Mass Grave

After the September 18th Incident, Japanese troops attacked Rehe in February 1933. On February 21, the Kwantung Army's Hayakawa Detachment and Tanaka Unit occupied Beipiao, initiating 13 years of dark rule. In the Beipiao coalfield, Japanese invaders implemented “human mining,” using people to extract coal and treating laborers’ lives as worthless. They forced miners to work 15 to 16 hours a day in dark, damp, and stifling mine shafts using bayonets, whips, and hammers. Tens of thousands of laborers died here from exhaustion, hunger, disease, epidemics, and abuse, and their bodies accumulated to form this grim mass grave of white bones.

The Beipiao City Memorial Hall for Martyred Miners During the Puppet Regime is located in the Nanshan depression of Taiji, Beipiao City, commonly known as the Taiji “Mass Grave.” It served as a burial site for deceased miners and laborers during the puppet regime period.

In 1967, the Beipiao Mining Bureau organized personnel to excavate and develop the Taiji Nanshan “Mass Grave.” It was completed in March 1969. A memorial monument for the martyred miners during the Beipiao puppet regime period was erected on the mountain. Based on the original state of the exhumed remains, two large skeletal exhibition rooms and twelve typical skeletal rooms were built on-site, housing the remains of 31,200 innocent miners. On June 21, 2001, the “Mass Grave” was handed over to the Beipiao Civil Affairs Bureau and renamed the “Beipiao City Memorial Hall for Martyred Miners During the Puppet Regime.”

On October 7, 2019, the Site of the Taiji Mass Grave was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units