Xiangyang Martyrs Tower, the landmark building of Xiangyang Martyrs Cemetery, is located in Yanghushan. Xiangyang people are familiar with it as the Martyrs Tower, covering an area of 1 100 mu. It was built in 195 1 and rebuilt in 1975 to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs who died in the liberation of Xiangfan and Xiangyang during the first and second civil revolutionary wars. Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery buried the bodies of 103 revolutionary martyrs who died in Xiangfan Campaign and some of the old-timers who died in the Great Revolution. The Martyrs' Ashes Hall houses more than 50 revolutionary martyrs who died for the liberation and construction of Xiangyang in different periods.
Second, the three major regrets of the Martyrs Tower
Xiangyang is a famous historical and cultural city with a history of more than 2,800 years. Since ancient times, it has been rich in products and outstanding people. Many literary friends ask, are you qualified to guide Xiangyang? I really dare not answer this, because people in Laohekou, a small town 69 kilometers away from Xiangyang, know little about many places of interest in Xiangyang. In the long history, Xiangyang has experienced such historical events as three visits to the thatched cottage, seven armies flooding, Li Zicheng being king, Xiangyang liberation, etc. Most of them know a thing or two from newspapers or small talk.
The day before yesterday, due to business needs, I finished my business in Xiangyang Industrial and Commercial Bureau and visited Xiangyang Martyrs Tower Scenic Area with my predecessors in Qinghai. I feel three regrets. Now I dare to state the following for experts to correct me.
The day before yesterday afternoon, the author, together with Qinghai predecessors who supported Xiangyang construction with 1969, walked up more than 640 steps of Xiangyang Martyrs Tower and paid a visit to Yanghu Mountain Scenic Area, a key protection unit of martyrs memorial building in Hubei Province at Xiangyang South 1 km. The 28-meter-high Martyrs Tower stands on the top of the mountain, which was built in 195 1 and rebuilt in 197 1. The left and right walls of the Martyrs Cemetery read, "Only sacrifice is more ambitious, dare to call the sun and the moon a new day; "Unique heroes drive tigers and leopards, no heroes are afraid of bears". Advancing in turn, I found that there are five balloon shooting ranges at the top of the "Xiangyang Martyrs Tomb", which is very lively. Suddenly, before traveling, netizens wrote poems such as "Asking about the fate of three Chun Qing and climbing the lush Yanghu Mountain". Tears want to sacrifice the old soil, and the cold wind blows the rain and sprinkles the new sky. A strong man is famous in history, and China was written in the battle of Xiangyang. Looking to the sky and thinking about the present, the people's well-being is boundless. ("Climbing the Martyrs Tower in Xiangyang") "I have no feeling at all. On the contrary, the local government let future generations pay tribute to the heroic achievements of the revolutionary martyrs, carry forward the glorious tradition of the revolutionary martyrs, and inherit the unfinished business of the martyrs to build this martyrs cemetery, which also makes tourists feel more embarrassed to decorate this cemetery. Xiangyang has a very old history, especially related to the military during the Three Kingdoms period. In addition to the well-known military figures of the Three Kingdoms, such as Kong Ming and Pang Tong, there are also some famous generals in the Western Jin Dynasty, such as Yang and Du Yu, who have made immortal contributions to the destruction of Wu and the unification of the world, but they are not known to the general public. This time, the author and his party interviewed forty tourists at random, and no one knew the story of sheep withered. When Xiangyang was liberated, countless soldiers died in this nominal martyr, which is hard to count. It was built in the Martyrs Tower in Shan Ye where sheep withered. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find the remains of withered sheep. According to the Qinghai predecessors who accompanied the author, this mountain used to be a barren mountain. Later, after the Martyrs Tower was built, rosewood (charcoal-burning, agaric and mushroom trees) was planted all over the mountain. Perhaps the "monument to tears" of the strategist in the Western Jin Dynasty, which has been passed down through the ages, is hidden in the rosewood forest. We didn't find any trace of it anyway. For a whole half day, we found groups of people, in twos and threes or one in each hand, wearing hiking shoes and carrying big water cups, all of them poured into Zhenwu Mountain opposite Tallinn, burning incense, worshiping Buddha and drawing lots. People come and go, bustling, waiting for people to go down the mountain, in droves, laughing, talking on the phone and screaming. Obviously, Zhenwushan, a Taoist place, is more attractive than the Martyrs Cemetery.
The first is to establish a mobile military cultural corridor, and build a Shili Martyrs Road and a military encyclopedia. From the Dead Mountain where the Martyrs Tower is located, Wei Mo, a famous military strategist in the Western Jin Dynasty, participated in the secret of the corps commander Si Mazhao. In 278, although he was seriously ill, he also attacked Wu Zhiji and died soon. After his death, the sheep he succeeded to the throne in Du Shan died. "Holding power, trying to be humble; Defending Xiangyang won the hearts of the people; Political attacks are effective; Repeatedly put forward the strategy of eliminating Wu; Yang Kuo, the general of the Southern Expedition who recommended talents to be Bole, said: A monument of tears has been passed down through the ages, running schools, repairing water conservancy projects and making expeditions to the modern times. The deeds deeply supported by the people are displayed in the form of cultural walls, so that people today are educated. At the same time, some offensive and defensive demonstration charts similar to those of the Red and Blue Army were set up along the road, which reproduced the great achievements of liberating Xiangyang martyrs in those days, abandoned the bad phenomena of setting up shooting ranges and setting up stalls on the top of the martyrs' tombs, and returned the cemetery to a pure land.
Second, build a military science and technology museum, and build a civilized road and a cultural Little Paradise in the ancient city. On the one hand, it is law enforcement departments such as industry and commerce and urban construction. We should intensify efforts to rectify false advertisements and chaotic construction, so that there is no hiding place for divination, illegal construction and other similar acts. At the same time, propaganda, culture and other departments should increase the popularization of scientific knowledge, so that people are no longer superstitious, consume correctly, and treat work and life problems scientifically. On the other hand, a military science and technology museum was established by high-tech means near the Martyrs' Cemetery, and some scenes such as enemy tactics were performed. Or the benefits of scientific consumption, feudal superstition and other hazards, so as to reproduce the historical change process of Xiangyang ancient city, so that everyone can experience the charm of culture in entertainment, resulting in "Xiangyang's good scenery, drunk my old heart!" .
Third, the establishment of historical exhibition halls, the construction of ancient cities and famous roads and the Three Kingdoms Grand View Garden. As the saying goes, "the land is more valuable to the people, and the people turn to the land." Since Xiangyang has produced many outstanding sons and daughters of China, such as Bian River, Wu Zixu and Kongming after Qu Yuan, especially some famous heroes in the Three Kingdoms period, it is necessary to set up a historical exhibition hall, which will link the geographical names of mountains and rivers with celebrities in the ancient city, tap this treasure house of cultural resources, and make new contributions to upgrading this sub-provincial ancient city, the Three Kingdoms Grand View Garden.
Third, the third transformation.
1, first construction
At the beginning of the founding of New China, in order to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs who died in the liberation of Xiangyang, the Xiangyang prefectural party committee decided to bury the 186 martyrs who died in the battle of Xiangfan, and build the martyrs cemetery and the "Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower".
195 1 09 February 19, Xiangyang prefectural party Committee and the special agency jointly issued a notice to set up a martyrs' cemetery construction committee headed by Yu Yi 'an, Xiangyang District Commissioner, and officially started the preparations for the martyrs' cemetery. In terms of site selection, considering that Yanghushan was named in memory of yang hu, a famous soldier guarding Xiangyang in the Western Jin Dynasty, it has always been revered in Xiangyang people's hearts, and the environment is quiet, not far from the urban area, so it is located in Yanghushan in the southwest suburb of Xiangyang. The entire Martyrs Cemetery has memorial towers, archways, memorial halls and uphill roads, with a total budget of 300,000 Jin of wheat (equivalent to 8.5 cents per Jin of wheat). Because according to the conditions at that time, the memorial tower, the archway and the road up the mountain could only be built with bricks, so the kiln factory was specially built for this purpose. The construction cost of the kiln factory is 39,000 Jin of wheat, plus manpower from troops, schools, factories, government cadres, suburban farmers volunteers and so on. The first construction of the Martyrs Cemetery should be regarded as a semi-self-sufficient construction.
At first, the memorial tower for revolutionary martyrs was built. The tower foundation was only 100 square meters, and it was a square pyramid with a big tip and a big bottom. There is a globe at the top of the tower, with a dove symbolizing peace on it, and inscriptions from leaders such as Yu Yi 'an on the tower. The mountain road leading to the Peak Memorial Tower is 200m long and1.3m wide. The whole memorial site is very narrow and crowded.
2. Secondary reconstruction
In the early 1970s, under the political environment at that time, the Martyrs Cemetery became an important and necessary base for the people and teenagers in the city to carry out class education, route education and revolutionary tradition education. During Tomb-Sweeping Day 1972 alone, more than 200,000 people were received. Martyrs Tower, built in 195 1, is greatly limited in design and building materials. Coupled with more than 20 years of ups and downs, the whole tower has been severely weathered and cracked. The dilapidated state of the Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower was obviously inconsistent with the seriousness of the important political and educational places at that time. At that time, the Municipal Revolutionary Committee submitted the "Request for Instructions on Emergency Maintenance of the Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower" to the Hubei Revolutionary Committee, which was approved.
In June, 1975, 1 1, the renovation project of Martyrs Tower started. At that time, the construction mainly faced three major problems: first, the investment was insufficient, and more than 200,000 yuan was needed according to the budget, while the provincial finance only allocated 92,000 yuan, which was a big funding gap; Second, there was no large machinery at that time, and it was difficult for building materials to go up the mountain; Third, there is no water source at the top of the mountain, so mixing cement mortar cannot be carried out. In order to ensure the progress of the project, Xiangyang District Revolutionary Committee and Xiangfan Municipal Revolutionary Committee issued instructions at the same time, and the gap funds were allocated by the municipal finance, which were mainly used to purchase building materials. He also called on the municipal organs, schools, streets and large central enterprises in Fan to contribute to the transportation and handling of materials. According to incomplete statistics, at that time, voluntary labor mobilized 80,000 person-times, dispatched more than 300 transport vehicles, carried 290,000 pieces of red bricks, 90 tons of cement, and countless aggregates. In order to solve the problem that there is no water source at the top of the mountain, the engineering headquarters at that time used their brains to connect three pumping stations with a lift of 35 meters in series to the top of the mountain along the foot of the mountain by using the principle of graded pumping and drainage. In this way, the water under the mountain was successfully pumped to the mountain. Under such difficult conditions, with the efforts of the people of Qi Xin, the new Martyrs Memorial Tower was built.
The new tower takes Xuzhou Huaihai Campaign Memorial Tower as a sample. The whole tower body is made of granite, which is flat and 28 meters high. The front of the tower is adjusted from the original due north to the northeast, facing the urban area; The base under the tower is engraved with inscriptions, the bottom width is 1 1 m, and there are reliefs on both sides. On the tower, there are seven glittering Chinese characters inscribed by the famous calligrapher Wang, "Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower" in Weibei. Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery is also rebuilt with granite. The completed cemetery is10m long, 6.8m wide and1.6m high. Grave-sweeping sites have also been expanded. The expanded grave-sweeping site is 60m long and 30m wide, covering an area of1.800m2.. Shangshan Road is also widened to 14m and 598 steps, with platforms in the steps and railings on both sides. After the completion of the Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Tower, the atmosphere was solemn.
3. The third transformation
With the rapid development of Xiangyang's economy, the urban appearance of Xiangyang is changing with each passing day, and the infrastructure construction of the whole martyrs cemetery is increasingly out of harmony with people's needs and surrounding environment. 1998, the municipal government will incorporate the infrastructure renovation of martyrs' cemetery into key urban construction projects and implement it by stages.
1998 65438+ 10, with the approval of the municipal party Committee and the municipal government, the construction of martyrs cemetery square was started, with an investment of 5,644,600 yuan and an area of 17.54 mu. The completion of the Martyrs Cemetery Square has improved the external environment of the Martyrs Memorial Tower. In 200 1 year, the municipal party Committee and the municipal government invested more than 6.5 million yuan to build a memorial hall for revolutionary martyrs with a building area of more than 3,000 square meters next to the Martyrs Tower.
20 1 1 In April, the municipal party committee and municipal government invested100000 yuan (including 5 million yuan raised by the government and 5 million yuan raised by the society) to renovate the main road steps and slope protection of Martyrs Tower. After transformation, the total length of the staircase of Martyrs Tower is more than 400 meters, and the width is 14 meter (including guardrails on both sides), 200 meters. The stairs are made of bluestone from Shandong, and the guardrails on both sides are made of granite from mongolia black. After the transformation, the staircase of Martyrs Tower is spacious, solemn, simple and elegant, with a new look.
Over the past 60 years, the people of Xiangyang have comforted the revolutionary martyrs who gave their precious lives for Xiangyang's liberation and socialist cause with their own practical actions. They built an eternal monument for the martyrs on yang hu Mountain, and also built an eternal monument in their hearts to carry forward the spirit of martyrs and build a beautiful home!
Fourth, bus routes.
Take buses 14 and 5 14 from the railway station and get off at Martyrs Cemetery Station.