The Monument to Martyrs in the Movement to
Protect Railway Projects in the Autumn of 1911 stands in the northwest corner of
the People's Park in Chengdu City, Sichuan
Province.
In May 1911 (during the reign of Xuantong of
the Qing Dynasty, 1644-1911), the Qing government, having declared the Railway
State-owed Policy, sold the construction rights of the Guangdong-Han and
Sichuan-Han railways which promised to allot private ownership to imperialist
financial groups in Britain, France, Germany and America. In a vigorous act of
rebellion, the people of Hunan,
Guangdong, Hubei and Sichuan Province organized the Protecting Railway
Comrade League to initiate the Movement to Protect Railway Projects, conduct
strikes and resist handing over grain and paying taxes. The Movement to Protect
Railway Projects in Sichuan,
where participants totaled several hundred thousand, was the largest. On
September 7 that year, the Sichuan governor-general arrested leaders of the Protecting the Railway
Comrade League and killed hundreds of petitioners, which produced the Chengdu
Murder Case and aggravated even more people. In response, the Chinese
Revolutionary League organized the Protecting Railway Comrade Army and initiated
an armed uprising all over Sichuan Province, which
sparked the Revolution of 1911.
The Monument to Martyrs in the Movement to
Protect Railway Projects in the Autumn of 1911 was erected in 1913, facing
south. The monument comprises a base, stand, tablet and top shaped like a square
cone. The brick and stone structure is 31.85 meters high and has a cylindrical
base. The square stand is divided into four layers with relief sculptures
representing locomotives, tracks, etc. The tablet is also shaped like a square
cone and is inlaid with a long fray stone engraved with four calligraphy styles
that read: The Monument to Martyrs in the Movement to Protect Railway Projects
in the Autumn of 1911. Each word is about one square meter and was written by
calligraphers Zhao Xi, Yan Kai, Wu Baijie and Zhan Kuijie during the
transitional phase between the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the
formation of the Republic of China (1912-1949).