The War Victory Monument and People's Liberation Monument, originally known as the War Victory Monument, was renamed the Chongqing People's Liberation Monument after 1949, or Jiefangbei for short. It is located in the heart of the central business district of Jiefangbei in Yuzhong District, Chongqing, at the intersection of Minzu Road, Minquan Road and Zorong Road, and is a landmark of Chongqing.

It was listed as the second batch of municipal cultural relics protection units in Chongqing on 23 January 1987.[1] it was announced as the third batch of provincial key cultural relics protection units in Sichuan Province on 16 April 1991.[2] it was listed as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units on 5 March 2013.[3]

Construction

The War Victory Monument, one of the projects to implement the 《10-year plan or the construction of the accompanying capital》,[4] was specially set up as a preparatory committee, with Huang Baoxun and Liu Daren leading the planning work. The building was designed by architect Lai Lun Kit, assisted by civil engineer Li Jifen, architects Tang Benshan, Zhang Zhifan and Guo Minzhan, and electrical equipment by electrical engineer Li Chung Yue. The construction work was carried out by the Tianfu Construction Factory, and the foundation stone was laid by Mayor Zhang Dulun on 31 October 35,[5] with a total cost of 183 million yuan (217 million yuan was spent on the construction of the monument): the money was collected in advance by means of fund-raising, ranging from as little as two to hundreds of thousands of yuan, representing the hearts of millions of Chinese people and the common goal of the whole country after the victory in the war. The common crystallisation.[6]

The entire monument is located in Du Post Street Square, Minquan Road, and covers a circular plot of 20 metres in diameter, constituting the following:[7]

1. Monument platform: A 10-metre radius circular green stone platform (1.6 metres high), with 8 steps of green stone steps around the perimeter and 8 flowerbeds for planting flowers and trees.

2. The pedestal: 8-sided stone monument, made of the finest gorge stone produced in Beibei, with 8 boulder bollards forming the monument pillars, which are embedded outside the pedestal, inscribed with five inscriptions (1) the full text of the National Government's explicit designation of Chongqing as the accompanying capital; 2) the inscription written by Zhang Qun, the head of the National Government's Chongqing administration and acting director; 3) the inscription written by Wu Dingchang, the head of the National Government's civil service; 4) the name of the monument inscribed by Mayor Zhang Dulun; 5) the inscription of the Chongqing Municipal Senate.

3. The monument has a height of 24 meters and comprises a cylinder with a diameter of 4 meters. Its interior is rounded, while the exterior is octagonal with each corner lined with beige glazed bricks. The monument's interior features a cantilevered spiral staircase with 140 steps leading to the observation deck. Along the staircase is a victory corridor, displaying oiled faces of war heroes and the signatures of the Japanese surrender. Additionally, the lower section contains commemorative objects and inscriptions by celebrities, presented by various provinces and municipalities. The wall of the monument has a commemorative steel tube, containing the design drawings of the project and the signatures of the individuals involved, along with representative cultural masterpieces, newspapers, stamps, and banknotes. The Victory Corridor includes a translation of the scroll presented to the city of Chongqing by US President Roosevelt in 1943.

4. The observation deck (with a circular observation deck at the bottom of the monument rising to 24 metres): 4.5 metres in diameter, wider than the monument, allowing 20 people to visit.

5. The four sides of the monument facing the road under the observation deck are covered with a standard clock (the clock is located at a point where it rises to 23 metres along the cantilevered spiral staircase), and between the clock faces are four relief sculptures of war heroes and soldiers from the army, navy and air force, as well as workers and farmers from the rear.

6. The single platform is topped with an anemometer, an anemometer, a north compass and related weather measuring instruments.

The monument is built with 25 tonnes of steel and 900 barrels of cement (950 barrels of cement were used for the construction work, of which 150 barrels were imported from Italy, when the cement was packed in wooden barrels at a standard of 170 kg per barrel), with reinforced concrete windows on each level of the monument, the main door made of specially selected nan wood, and the interior and exterior walls finished in white cement. The electrical equipment: 8 mercury sunlamps around the top of the monument, 1 mercury lamp on each level of the interior, and 8 powerful searchlights for external lighting, which are projected from all sides of the monument to reveal the entire monument in 8 soft rays of light.[6]

History

Before the Second Sino-Japanese War

The area around the current Jiefangbei was originally called "Governor's Post Street",[8] named after the government-run post office that was located here. At that time, there were only a few pharmacies, silk shops and companies selling literary treasures, while the rest were residential houses such as the Yang Family Compound and the Zhou Family Compound. At the intersection of the four narrow lanes of the post office, there was a vacant area of only a few dozen square metres, known as "Dashizi", which is now the centre of Jiefangbei.[9]

Spiritual fortress

The former location of the monument was initially occupied by a seven-foot-tall wooden structure known as the Spiritual Fortress, which took on the form of a square conical turret and was erected in November 1940 before being dismantled in October 1946. This edifice served as an emblem of unwavering determination to fight until the very end and to foster a spirit of resistance.

The Sino-Japanese War was incorporated into the Second World War in December 1941, when China forged an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom to combat the Japanese-German-Italian Axis following Japan's initiation of the Pacific War.

On 12 March 1940, the National Government hosted the construction of the " Corporate signboard" in the centre of the Duoyou Street Square in Chongqing, which was completed on 31 December 1941. "It is a wooden structure, quadrilateral in shape and in the form of a running tower, seven feet seven feet high (about 26 metres), with a spiral staircase to the top, and a clock, directional signs and a wind speed and wind direction meter on top. The monument was built by the then Nationalist Government to inspire the people of China to fight against the war and to encourage them to fight to the end, and was named the 'Spiritual fortress'. The "seven feet" symbolises the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident".[9]

The War Victory Monument

After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan, the National Government built the "War Victory Monument" on the site of the "Corporate signboard" to commemorate the bloodshed of the nation's military and civilians.

On October 31, 1946, the foundation stone for the new monument was laid at the original site of the "Spirit Fortress" bomb crater. In December of that year, construction work began on a reinforced concrete structure with an octagonal column and helmet roof to replace the old monument. The completed monument, known as the Monument of Discipline or Victory in the War of Resistance, took its shape from that of the Liberation Monument.[10] In the Liberation Monument, a letter from US President Roosevelt to the people of Chongqing on the occasion of the victory in World War II is still in place.

Chongqing People's Liberation Monument

On 30 November 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army captured the main city of Chongqing.On 1 October 1950, the Southwest Military Affairs Commission changed the text and design on the monument, and Liu Bocheng changed the inscription to "Chongqing People's Liberation Monument", shortened to "Liberation Monument", from commemorating the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan to commemorating the liberation of Chongqing.[10]

Completion Ceremony (1947)

Current status

See also

References

  1. ↑ Notice of the General Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government on the Protection of Cultural Relics in our City [重庆市人民政府办公厅关于做好我市文物保护工作的通知] (in Chinese). Documents of the General Office of Chongqing Municipal People's Government. 1987-01-23.
  2. ↑ Notice on announcing the third batch of key cultural relics under Provincial protection [关于公布第三批省级重点文物保护单位的通知] (in Chinese). Sichuan Provincial People's Government. 1991.
  3. ↑ Circular of The State Council on examining and approving and announcing the seventh batch of key National cultural relics Protection Units [国务院关于核定并公布第七批全国重点文物保护单位的通知] (in Chinese). State Council of China. 2013.
  4. ↑ "The First Urban Planning Blueprint in Chongqing's History - The Draft Ten-Year Construction Plan for the Accompanying Capital" [重庆历史上的第一部城市规划蓝图——《陪都十年建设计划草案》] (in Chinese).
  5. ↑ 《申報》民國36年10月4日
  6. 1 2 The architectural record of the victory monument of the Anti-Japanese War [抗战胜利纪功碑建筑纪实] (in Chinese) (1st ed.). China Building Industry Press. 1999. p. 571.
  7. ↑ 《重慶國民公報》民國36年10月11日
  8. ↑ "What was the post office like 100 years ago? Go to the Jiefangbei Duyou Street to reveal the secret" [100年前的邮局长啥样？到解放碑督邮街去揭秘]. 2020-11-11.
  9. 1 2 "【 Story of Four Histories 】Chongqing landmark—Liberation Monument" [【四史故事】重庆地标—解放碑]. Chongqing Local Chronicles Office. 2021-07-16.
  10. 1 2 "Anti-Japanese War victory monument and People's Liberation Monument" [抗战胜利纪功碑暨人民解放纪念碑] (in Chinese).

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