The Jinggangshan Martyrs’ Cemetery, located in the Ciping scenic area of Jinggangshan City, Jiangxi Province, is a revered red cultural site built to honor the heroes and martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the early years of the Chinese revolution. At its heart stands the "Jinggangshan Base Area Martyrs’ Name Stele," engraved with the names of 50,000 martyrs, surrounded by evergreen pines and cypresses that embody timeless remembrance across generations.
The cemetery’s main architectural complex comprises the Martyrs’ Memorial Hall, a stele forest, a sculpture group, and a revolutionary history museum. Among these, the sculpture group titled “Sparks Ignite the Prairie Fire” uses three-dimensional bas-relief techniques to vividly depict the spread of revolutionary ideals, evoking deep reverence in visitors.
The most awe-inspiring feature of the cemetery is the 3,000-square-meter Martyrs’ Name Stele, crafted from granite and inscribed in regular script (kaishu) with the names of over 50,000 martyrs who died between 1927 and 1930. Each character is carved 3 centimeters deep, shining like gold with enduring significance.
Inside the Memorial Hall are displayed original manuscripts and personal artifacts belonging to revolutionary leaders such as Mao Zedong [Founding Father of the Communist Party of China] and Zhu De [Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army]. Among them is Mao Zedong’s strategic maxim from his 1928 essay “The Struggle in Jinggangshan”: “When the enemy advances, we retreat; when he halts, we harass; when he tires, we attack; when he retreats, we pursue.” This insight continues to radiate wisdom even today.
More than just a resting place for revolutionary martyrs, the cemetery stands as a crucial testament to the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic doctrine of “encircling the cities from the countryside.” The final poem of martyr Wang Erzhuo [Revolutionary Martyr], who died in the Defense of Huangyangjie—“My blood will flow before the executioner’s block”—resonates across time and space with the inscription of Chairman Mao’s ci-poem “Xijiangyue: Jinggangshan” within the cemetery, jointly embodying the Jinggangshan Spirit: “firm belief and hard struggle.”
Every Qingming Festival, tens of thousands of visitors come here to pay homage to the fallen heroes, ensuring that the red gene continues to thrive with renewed vitality in the new era.
