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Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

A Park, Memorial Hall, and Cemetery for Revolutionary Martyrs in Yunfu

Yunfu Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall (革命烈士纪念馆) in Martyrs Park
Yunfu Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall in Martyrs Park

Tucked away in the center of Yunfu's most urban district is the city's Martyrs Park (烈士公园). The park includes the city's Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall (革命烈士纪念馆), with a cemetery and monument on the hill behind it. I stumbled upon the park during a meandering walk after first arriving in Yunfu and passed through several times on following days. Below are some photos taken on two quiet days at the park, some of which also capture the urban environment surrounding it.

Park gate leading from Jiefang Road


Yunfu Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall (云浮革命烈士纪念馆)
Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall


sculpted bust of Deng Fa (邓发)
Deng Fa (邓发)


Revolutionary Martyr's Monument in Yunfu (云浮革命烈士纪念碑)
Revolutionary Martyrs Monument




Martyr's Cemetery (烈士陵园)
Martyrs Cemetery


Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall from above
Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall from above


Martyrs Park in Yunfu (云浮烈士公园)
Martyrs Park


Martyrs Park in Yunfu (云浮烈士公园)


Martyrs Park in Yunfu (云浮烈士公园)


Martyrs Park in Yunfu (云浮烈士公园)


Martyrs Park in Yunfu (云浮烈士公园)

Monday, April 2, 2018

"A Story About Something Kind of Wonderful That Happened Yesterday" in Beijing

A series of tweets today by Te-Ping Chen, a Beijing-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal, resonated with me and apparently many others. Her story of discovery is well worth sharing beyond the world of Twitter, so here it is:












Sunday, November 19, 2017

Perspective on a Old Tower in Wuhan

Hongshan Pagoda (洪山宝塔) in Wuhan, China


In 1291 somebody climbed many steep, narrow, and irregular stone steps to reach the highest level of the Hongshan Pagoda in Wuhan, China. More than 700 years later somebody else did the same.

But only one of us is still alive today.

*   *   *

Now that I've confirmed my continued existence, at least up until the time I post this, I will add that, yes, I am now in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. There is an immense backlog of posts I have been wanting to write, but I have been heavily preoccupied with the exploration / collection side of things lately. Also, the amount of change I have seen in Wuhan, Changsha, and elsewhere has left me wanting to digest things more fully.

So on that note, here is a photo of the Hongshan Pagoda taken by Frederick G. Clapp sometime between 1913-1915:

black and white photo of Hongshan Pagoda


And here is a recent view from the tower including the Baotong Temple:

view from the Hongshan Pagoda in Wuhan

Monday, June 5, 2017

28 Years Later, Another June 4th

A year ago I shared scenes from a vigil in Hong Kong commemorating the anniversary of the crackdown at Tiananmen Square. The post also includes links to older posts offering windows onto what I have seen elsewhere in China on June 4th — something I have done every year since beginning this blog.

I am in the U.S. for a bit right now. So this year I can't capture more June 4th scenes in China. Most of today will be a very happy occasion for me — my sister's wedding. But I still want to take some time to remember what happened 28 years ago and consider some perspectives on what it means today. So I will point elsewhere:

This year's vigil in Hong Kong

— "Hidden Away for 28 Years, Tiananmen Protest Pictures See Light of Day"

— "Interview With Yu Zhijian, One of the ‘Three Hunan Hooligans’ Who Defaced the Portrait of Mao Zedong Over Tiananmen Square in 1989"

— "Support grows in China for 1989 Tiananmen crackdown"

— "Learn from us on democracy, Taiwan tells China on Tiananmen anniversary"

— "Illegal Tiananmen Square Liquor Arrives in Hong Kong"

— Some tweets:








Monday, May 16, 2016

Pieces for the 50th Anniversary of the Cultural Revolution

sculpture "Hometown Love" ("鄉情") at Dongfanghong Plaza (東方紅廣場) in Xiangtan, Hunan
"Hometown Love" ("鄉情") at Dongfanghong ("The East Is Red") Plaza in Yuetang District, Xiangtan, Hunan — not far from Mao Zedong's childhood home

Today, May 16, is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. In the spirit of "never forget", here are links with excerpts to some recent pieces:


1. An in-depth multimedia account possible in Hong Kong but not in mainland China: "Cultural Revolution, 50 years on — The pain, passion and power struggle that shaped China today":
Fifty years ago today, China issued a top directive calling on its people to rid society of “members of the bourgeoisie threatening to seize political power from the proletariat” – marking the start of a decade-long violent class struggle.

For 10 tumultuous years from 1966, the country underwent massive sociopolitical upheaval that saw countless politicians and intellectuals driven to their deaths, civilians killed in armed conflicts, and cultural relics and artefacts destroyed. The official death toll numbered more than 1.7 million.

We detail the birth of the movement – Mao Zedong’s brainchild – and how the hardline political campaign shook the nation even as its effects rippled across the globe. Former Red Guards and rebels share their personal accounts of the difficult decade that the country and its people are still struggling to come to terms with half a century on.

2. "50 Years After the Cultural Revolution, a Son Awaits Answers on His Father’s Death":
The teenage mob threw the couple into the back of a truck and took them to a school where they were beaten with military-style leather belts, the favorite punishment tool of Red Guards; a jump-rope twisted into a whip; and shoes with nails jutting out, Ms. Liu later said. The mob then drove the couple to another school where the beating continued, including with iron rods.

The father, Chen Yanrong, 37, insisted that the landlord label was wrong; his family had long given up the property. But back then, the younger Mr. Chen said, “the more you denied something, the more you were beaten.”

As he lay in his own blood, Chen Yanrong begged for water. The students said no, and he stopped breathing soon after.

3. "‘Flesh banquets’ of China’s Cultural Revolution remain unspoken, 50 years on":
In 1968 a geography instructor named Wu Shufang was beaten to death by students at Wuxuan Middle School. The body was carried to the flat stones of the Qian river where another teacher was forced at gunpoint to rip out the heart and liver. Back at the school the pupils barbecued and consumed the organs. . . .

“Cannibalism? I was here then, I went through it,” a man named Luo told AFP. But Wuxuan has developed rapidly in recent years and now, he said, that history “has no meaning”.

4. "Maoists still a force 50 years after the Cultural Revolution":
In the ancient city of Luoyang, the old, the poor and the marginalized gather daily in the main public square to profess nostalgia for the political movement, downplaying that period's violent excesses. . . .

It was here in the plaza that Xu Xiaobin met a group of Maoist retirees who changed his thinking five years ago. That was before he was laid off from his 3,000 yuan ($460) -a-month machining job and condemned to a life of off-and-on construction work that has slowed to a trickle as the economy sputters.

"Even the word 'layoff' didn't exist" in Mao's time, Xu said, standing outside the state-owned gear factory that used to support his family of four. "You look on the Internet and there are people showing off their wealth. Then there are people like me, working under the sun in 40-degree (Celsius, 104-degree Fahrenheit) heat."

Born in 1974, Xu scarcely experienced China under Mao, whose death in 1976 started China's journey toward liberalization. But during childhood, Xu saw pictures of his laborer father, and was told he was respected, not denigrated.

5. "China marks 50 years since Cultural Revolution with silence"
No official memorial events were reported by China’s heavily controlled media and Chinese academics were forbidden from talking about the sensitive period. . . .

“I am shocked that after 50 years we still don’t have a complete report on the Cultural Revolution. It is a shame," [said Wang Youqin, author of Victims of the Cultural Revolution, a three-decade investigation into Red Guard killings].

The academic said she was convinced that ordinary people could make a difference by remembering and recording the events of that tumultuous decade.

“Things will change,” Wang said. “If we make the effort, if we tell the truth, people will listen.”

6. "'What mistake did we make?' Victims of Cultural Revolution seek answers, 50 years on"
Chen Shuxiang shakes his head when asked if he can forgive the teenagers who chained his father to a radiator and used an iron bar to bludgeon him to death. . . .

Chen is determined such atrocities will not repeat themselves and vows to use his final years to shed light upon the tragedy through his father’s story. Once his 12-year-old grandson is old enough, he will tell him the details of how his great-grandfather died.

“Nothing like this had happened before in all the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation,” he says. “It can’t be allowed to happen again.”