Liberation Monument in Chongqing 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
editThe 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, 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.
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:
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 body of the monument is 24 metres in height and consists of a 4-metre diameter cylinder with a rounded interior and an octagonal exterior, each corner line paved with beige glazed bricks; the interior has a cantilevered spiral staircase of 140 steps that circles up to the observation deck, along which a victory corridor is set up, on which hang oiled faces of the great achievements of the war heroes and the signatures of the Japanese surrender; the lower side is embedded with commemorative objects presented by provinces and municipalities and inscriptions by celebrities. The wall of the monument has a commemorative steel tube with the design drawings of the project and the signatures of the people concerned, as well as some representative cultural masterpieces, newspapers, stamps and banknotes. Stamps, banknotes, photographs, etc. Photographs, etc. A translation of the scroll presented to the city of Chongqing by US President Roosevelt in 1943 is also inscribed on the 'Victory Corridor'.
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.[5][6][7]
History
editBefore the Second Sino-Japanese War
editThe area around the current Jiefangbei was originally called "Governor's Post Street", 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.
Corporate signboard
editThe former site of the monument was originally a seven-foot-tall wooden structure, the Corporate signboard, in the form of a square conical turret, which was built in November 1940 and demolished in October 1946. It was built in November 1940 and demolished in October 1946. The building symbolises the determination to fight to the end and to promote the spirit of resistance.
The Sino-Japanese War became part of the Second World War in December 1941, when China formed an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom to fight against the Japanese, German and Italian axis after Japan launched 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 'Corporate signboard'. The "seven feet" symbolises the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident".
The War Victory Monument
editAfter 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 31 October 1946, the foundation stone of the new monument was laid at the original site of the "Spirit Fortress" bomb crater, and in December, construction work began on the new monument, which was replaced by a reinforced concrete structure with an octagonal column and helmet roof. The monument was completed on the 10th of October of the same year, with the inscription 'Victory in the War of Resistance', then known as the 'Monument of Discipline', the shape of which is the Liberation Monument seen today. 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
editOn 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.
Gallery
editCompletion Ceremony (1947)
edit-
Tens of thousands of people attend the inauguration ceremony of the Double Ten Day War Memorial -
The national flag was raised to the sound of military music -
The plaque was cut by Miss.Zhu Shaoliang -
Ji Gong Monument in the crowd cheers held the opening ceremony -
Spiral staircase from the top -
Zhang Dulun takes a photo in front of the gate of the Ji Gong Monument -
Speech by Zhou Maozhi, President of Chongqing Municipal Senate -
Street stands -
Mayor Zhang speaks to the public at the completion ceremony -
Live with the Flag -
Current status
edit-
A commercial area and pedestrian street have been built around the Jiefangbei -
Around Jiefangbei Business District
See also
editReference
edit- ^ 「重慶市人民政府辦公廳關於做好我市文物保護工作的通知」，重慶市人民政府辦公廳文件，重辦發〔1987〕16號，1987年1月23日
- ^ 四川省人民政府川府發（1991）50號文件《關於公布第三批省級重點文物保護單位的通知》
- ^ 『國務院關於核定並公布第七批全國重點文物保護單位的通知』，國發〔2013〕13號，2013年3月5日
- ^ "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》" [The First Urban Planning Blueprint in Chongqing's History - The Draft Ten-Year Construction Plan for the Accompanying Capital] (in Chinese).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ 「抗戰勝利紀功碑建築紀實」《中國建築業年鑑》編委會,《中國建築業年鑑1998》,中國建築工業出版社,1999年03月第1版,第571頁
- ^ 《申報》民國36年10月4日
- ^ 《重慶國民公報》民國36年10月11日