Monument to the Victory of the Pianma People in Their Resistance Against British Aggression

　　    Monument to the Victory of the Pianma People in Their Resistance Against British Aggression The Monument to the Victory of the Pianma People in Their Resistance Against British Aggression covers a construction area of 950 square meters, with the monument itself standing 20 meters tall. The body of the monument consists of three swords and three shields, symbolizing the united resistance against British aggression by the Han, Lisu, and Nu ethnic groups. In 1886, after Britain annexed Burma, it attempted to open a corridor from Burma northward through Sichuan and Tibet into inland China. In the 12th year of the Guangxu reign (1886), Britain forced China to sign a series of unequal treaties. Taking advantage of the ignorance of the Qing government officials and treaty negotiators regarding the geography and history of Pianma, they first created confusion in the treaties through fraudulent means, then used military threats to coerce the Qing government into accepting the Gaoligong Mountain watershed as the boundary, provoking various incidents. On November 15 of the 2nd year of the Xuantong reign (December 26, 1910), over 2,000 British soldiers armed themselves and forcibly occupied Pianma.

　　    During the Pianma Crisis, local people of all ethnicities, led by village chiefs, put up a tenacious resistance. They formed a force of over 100 members composed of Lisu, Nu, Jingpo (Chashan people), and Derung, clad in straw capes and armed with crossbows, poisoned arrows, long knives, spears, and a small number of firearms. They carried out surprise attacks in the virgin forests, inflicting heavy casualties on the British invaders and forcing them to retreat to Gulang. This force was referred to by local people as the "Straw Cape Soldiers."

　　    News spread from Baoshan to Kunming and Beijing, causing an uproar across the nation. The Viceroy of Yunnan and Guizhou and the Qing government lodged strong protests with Britain and ordered the tusi (local chieftains) of Lushui to organize militia to resist the British in Pianma. Young and middle-aged farmers of all ethnicities on both sides of the Nu River took up crossbows and broadswords to form an anti-British "Crossbow Team" of more than 400 members, joining forces with the "Straw Cape Soldiers." They attacked the enemy using night raids, poisoning, and cutting off water supplies, which eventually forced the British government to issue a note to the Chinese government in April of the same year, acknowledging that Pianma, Gulang, and Gangfang were Chinese territory. After the Xinhai Revolution, Li Genyuan, a patriotic general and commander of the 2nd Division of the Yunnan Army, stationed troops in the Nu River region, thwarting the British invaders' attempts to advance into the Nu River valley.

　　    In 1960, the governments of China and Myanmar signed a border treaty, and Pianma officially returned to the motherland. In 1985, when Comrade [Deng Xiaoping] inspected Pianma in the Nu River region, he highly praised the fearless spirit of the Pianma people of all ethnicities in resisting the invaders and suggested the construction of a monument. He also inscribed its name: “Monument to the Victory of the Pianma People in Their Resistance Against British Aggression.”