Monument to the Third Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan

　　    Monument to the Third Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan (First Batch Provincial Protected Site)

　　    Era: 1940

　　    Location: Houzhai Village, Xijing Town, 35 km north of Cheng County, Licheng

　　    The full name of the monument is “Monument to the Third Anniversary of the War of Resistance Behind Enemy Lines by the 18th Group Army (Eighth Route Army) of the National Revolutionary Army.” It was built in September 1940. Due to severe soil erosion at its original foundation, which threatened the base of the tower, it was relocated in June 1986 to a small hill near Xiazhai Village in the same town, 3 km from the original site and adjacent to the Licheng–Zuoquan Highway.

　　    The monument is a five-faced, straight-edged, pointed-top structure, 6.3 meters high, rectangular in shape, measuring 13.3 meters in length, 11.3 meters in width, and 1.5 meters in height. The base of the tower is inlaid with stone steles on its five sides.

　　    The inscriptions on the monument document and praise the heroic struggle of the Eighth Route Army under the leadership of the Party during those grueling three years. Despite harsh conditions, they fought bravely against the enemy, achieved brilliant victories, shattered the enemy’s arrogance, turned the tide of the war, established the anti-Japanese democratic base in the Shanxi–Hebei–Henan border region behind enemy lines, inspired the confidence of the entire nation in the war effort, and reinforced the firm belief that under the Party’s leadership, the self-reliant Eighth Route Army would triumph in the war and successfully build the nation.