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Home Travel in Beijing Monument to the People's Heroes
Monument to the People's Heroes
Travel in Beijing

Monument to the People's Heroes

The Monument to the People's Heroes (rén mín yīng xióng jì niàn bēi 人民英雄纪念碑), Beijing, is a ten-story obelisk (fāng jiān shí tǎ 方尖石塔) that was erected as a national monument of the People's Republic of China. The Monument was built in memory of the martyrs (liè shì 烈士) who laid down their lives for the revolutionary struggles of the Chinese people during the 19th and 20th centuries. It was built in accordance with the resolution of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted on November 30, 1949. The monument was designed by architect Liang Sicheng (liáng sī chéng 梁思成), with some elements designed by his wife, Lin Huiyin (lín huī yīn 林徽因).

Monument to the People's HeroesThe monument was constructed from August 1952 to May 1958 and is located to the north of Mao Zedong's mausoleum on the southern edge of Tiananmen Square.

The monument weighs over 10,000 metric tons and contains about 17,000 pieces of marble and granite (huā gāng yán 花岗岩) from Qingdao, Shandong Province and Fangshan District outside Beijing.

The Monument to the People's Heroes with the Great Hall of the People in the background. On the pedestal (dǐ jī 底基) of the tablet there are eight huge bas-relieves (qiǎn fú diāo 浅浮雕) carved out of white marble covering the revolutionary episodes, which are depictions of Chinese struggle from the First Opium War (yā piàn zhàn zhēng 鸦片战争) in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The relieves can be read in chronological order in a clockwise direction from the east:
1) Burning opium in the Opium War in 1840.
2) The Jintian Village Uprising in Taiping Revolution in 1851.
3) Wuchang Uprising.
4) May 4th Movement in 1919.
5) May 30 Movement in 1925.
6) Nanchang Uprising in 1927.
7) War of Resistance Against Japan between 1931 and 1945.
8) Crossing the Yangtze River Campaign, or Successful Crossing of the Yangtze River (cháng jiāng 长江) in 1949.

On the front of the monument there is an inscription (tí cí 题词) in Mao Zedong's handwriting, which reads "Eternal glory to the people's heroes!"On the back of the monument, there is a message which was drafted by Mao Zedong (máo zé dōng 毛泽东) and written by Zhou Enlai (zhōu ēn lái 周恩来): "Eternal glory to the heroes of the people who laid down their lives in Monument to the People's Heroesthe people's war of liberation and the people's revolution in the past three years! Eternal glory to the heroes of the people who laid down their lives in the people's war of liberation and the people's revolution in the past thirty years! Eternal glory to the heroes of the people who from 1840 laid down their lives in the many struggles against domestic and foreign enemies and for national independence and the freedom and well-being of the people!" (Note: the "past three years" refers roughly to the Chinese Liberation War (1946-1949); the "past thirty years" refers roughly to the "revolutionary proper" of the Chinese Communist Party from its foundation in 1921 to the end of the revolution in 1949 against the invasion by Japan and the rule of the warlords (jūn fá 军阀) and the Nationalist government; and "from 1840" refers to the general struggle of the Chinese people against the various external and internal strife engulfing China from the beginning of the Opium Wars to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Monument to the People's Heroes

                                     (Click above picture to view the map)

Admission Fee: free
Public Transportation:
You can take bus No.1,4,52,10,728 and get off at the east Tiananmen Square (tiān ān mén guǎng chǎng 天安门广场).
Or you can take a subway line 1 and get off at the west of Tiananmen Square.

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