Memorial Park of the Red Detachment of Women

　　The Memorial Park of the Red Detachment of Women is a national patriotic education base, a Hainan Provincial patriotic education base, and a national classic red tourism attraction. It is located on Wanshipo Slope in Jiaji Town, Qionghai City. The park was invested in, built, and is managed by Hainan Huihai Travel Industry Development Co., Ltd.

　　The memorial park consists of five parts: Peace Square, Memorial Square, the Red Detachment of Women Memorial Hall, Coconut Grove Village, and the Tourism Service Area, covering an area of 200 acres. Peace Square is situated at the front center of the park and can accommodate thousands of people. At the center of the stage is a giant sculpture featuring the bamboo hat of the women soldiers, a military bugle, a dove of peace, and broken chains. Memorial Square is located in the northwest part of the park. It features a statue of a Red Detachment of Women soldier, a relief wall depicting the battle history of the detachment, a garden for planting memorial trees, and a venue for watching performances of folk art by the women soldiers. Coconut Grove Village is in the southwest part of the park and resembles a “southern mansion.” It houses exhibition and sales rooms for books, magazines, and craft souvenirs, as well as residential areas where four surviving Red Detachment of Women veterans in their 90s currently live. The Tourism Service Area is located on the west side of the park and includes a shooting entertainment venue themed around the Red Detachment of Women, shops selling island-style clothing and local specialties, and dining facilities for guests. The park is shaded by trees, covered with green grass like a carpet, and filled with birdsong and floral fragrance. Hainan Huihai Travel Industry Development Co., Ltd. began constructing the Memorial Park of the Red Detachment of Women in 1998, investing a total of 25 million yuan, and the park was completed and opened to visitors on May 1, 2000.

　　In 2002, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee allocated 3 million yuan to build the Red Detachment of Women Memorial Hall. The three-story hall is located at the center of the memorial park, covering a land area of 770 square meters with a floor space of 1,520 square meters. A giant statue of a Red Detachment of Women soldier stands in the front courtyard of the hall, majestic and heroic in appearance. The front of the memorial hall is designed in the shape of the August 1st five-pointed star, signifying that the Women’s Detachment belonged to the structure of the People’s Army and symbolizing how the Red Detachment of Women defended the red Soviet regime with revolutionary armed forces. The first floor of the hall houses the Red Detachment of Women Exhibition Hall, while the second floor contains a screening room and a live multimedia hall. Since 2000, the memorial park has received 500,000 domestic and international visitors annually. More than 20 Party and state leaders, including members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, have visited the park.

　　In June 2001, the memorial park was designated by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee as a “National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base.” In March 2005, it was recognized by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, and the National Tourism Administration as a national classic red tourism attraction.

　　On May 1, 1931, the Women's Special Company of the Third Regiment of the Second Independent Division of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (i.e., the Red Detachment of Women) was established in Leihui County (now Qionghai City). The company had three platoons with a total of 100 members, all female except for porters and buglers. The Women’s Detachment successively participated in battles such as those at Wen Market, Xuedao, Zhongbai, and Fenjie, cooperating flexibly and tactically with the main forces of the Third Regiment. In 1932, the Hainan Special Committee of the Communist Party of China formed a second Women’s Special Company. During the second anti-“encirclement and suppression” campaign in Hainan, some members of the Women’s Detachment bravely sacrificed their lives, while others were scattered or captured. The First and Second Companies of the Women’s Detachment were subsequently disbanded. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai spoke highly of the Red Detachment of Women, praising them as a “model for the world revolution.”