Hubei-Henan Border Region Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery 鄂豫边区革命烈士陵园

About Hubei-Henan Border Region Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery

Dawu County sits in what was called the Eyu border region, between Hubei and Henan. Peasant uprisings at Wangyangdian, Xiadian and Fangjiafan and the rising at Xuanhuadian took place within the county during the Great Revolution and the Agrarian Revolution War, followed by the establishment of Soviet government. The Fourth Front Red Army fought here and won three anti-encirclement campaigns, and after its main force moved west the local population supported the 25th and 28th Red Armies through five further years of armed struggle. In 1941 Li Xiannian moved the New Fourth Army's Fifth Division, together with the border region Party committee and administrative office, to Dawu Shan, and an anti-Japanese democratic base was opened around it. During the civil war the Central Plains Breakout from Xuanhuadian is described in Chinese accounts as the first shot of the Liberation War.

By the provincial party history office's count, more than 70,000 people from Dawu County died in these wars and more than 8,000 are registered revolutionary martyrs. The Hubei provincial government decided in 1974 to build a cemetery for them; construction began that year and the site was completed in November 1984. Its principal structures are the Eyu Border Region Revolutionary Martyrs Monument, the memorial hall and a separate Central Plains Breakout Martyrs Monument. In March 1995 the provincial government designated the cemetery a provincial patriotic education base.

What to look for

• The Eyu Border Region Revolutionary Martyrs Monument, the central structure of the site
• The memorial hall, the second of the three principal buildings
• The separate Central Plains Breakout Martyrs Monument, commemorating the 1946 breakout from Xuanhuadian
• The hillside setting on the western flank of Jianggang Shan above the Huan River

Location & getting there

Getting to Hubei-Henan Border Region Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 鄂豫边区革命烈士陵园 with 孝感市 and 大悟县.