The Origin of Yuhuatai —— Historical Legend of Yuhuatai in Shi Yuhua
Yuhuatai is a hilly area with the highest elevation of 60 meters and an area of 1 13.7 hectares. The top of the mountain is like a platform, covered with large and small gravel. They were all brought from the middle and lower reaches of Guichi, Anhui Province by the turbulent current of the ancient Yangtze River in the Late Tertiary and Early Quaternary from12 million years ago to 3 million years ago, and the edges and corners were ground off by natural processing such as friction and water erosion. Some are as round as eggs, and some are as flat as round cakes. These gravels are mainly composed of hard rocks such as quartzite, quartz sandstone and siliceous limestone, and minerals such as quartz, opal and chalcedony. Because of its different mineral composition, it presents white, milky white, yellow, dark yellow, red, green, purple, black and other beautiful colors, and most of them are transparent or translucent, which is more crystal clear, so it is called "Yuhua Agate".
Because Yuhuatai produces yuhua stone, the ancients called the mountains in this area "Jubaoshan" and "Agate Mountain", and Sun Wu also called them "Stone Mountain". There is a legend about the origin of Yuhuatai: During the Southern Dynasties in Liang Wudi more than 400 years ago/kloc-0, there was a monk named Master Guang Yun who gave lectures at a high school temple. His sincerity touched the sky, and suddenly flowers fell like rain and turned into gems, so people called this place Yuhuatai. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was listed as one of the "Eighteen Scenes of Jinling" and "Forty-eight Scenes of Jinling" respectively, and became a good place to climb mountains and enjoy the victory in the south of the Yangtze River.
Rain flower stones are deeply loved by people because of their bright colors, vivid landscapes, flowers, birds, fish and insects, exotic flowers and grasses, and rich shapes, such as spherical, cake-shaped, egg-shaped and walnut-shaped. Often used as a desk, coffee table, bookshelf decoration; After processing, large pieces of rain flower stones can also be turned into "rain flower stones" such as necklaces, chicken hearts and tie knots. In fact, as early as more than 5000 years ago, the local area began to use rain flower stones as decoration. Rain stones were found in the mouth and beside the deceased in the public burial ground of Yinyangying clan in the north of Gulou. Xu Beihong, a famous modern painter in China, and Premier Zhou, who is deeply loved by people, also have a special liking for yuhua stone.
Cemetery square-martyrs sculpture group
1927, after Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12th" counter-revolutionary coup, Nanjing became the reactionary ruling center of the Kuomintang. During the 22-year fascist dictatorship, more than ten thousand workers and patriots from all walks of life were killed in Yuhuatai. Every stone in Yuhuatai is soaked with the blood of revolutionary martyrs, and every inch of land is buried with the loyalty of revolutionary martyrs.
After the founding of New China, Nanjing people established revolutionary martyrs cemetery, revolutionary martyrs monument and revolutionary martyrs deeds exhibition hall in Yuhuatai, making them memorial places for people to remember revolutionary martyrs.
There is a granite tomb gate on the north side of the Martyrs Cemetery, which is about 1 1.7 meters high, which means taking the road of October Revolution. Inside the gate is the cemetery square, surrounded by conifers and precious flowers and trees. At the southern end of the square stands a huge statue of a martyr, which is awe-inspiring. This sculpture was built in 1980. The whole statue is made of 179 granite sculptures of different sizes, with a height of10.3m, a width of14.2m, a thickness of 5.5m and a weight of1374t, which vividly shows the party workers, workers, peasants, intellectuals, soldiers, students and so on. Some of them hold their heads high, some are calm, some are glaring, some are gnashing their teeth, and their expressions are vivid, which fully shows the revolutionary's awe-inspiring righteousness.
Behind the sculpture is one of the execution places where the Kuomintang killed martyrs, which is called "Northern Martyrdom". On the east and west sides of Zhongtaigang, there are also "Western Martyrdom" and "Eastern Martyrdom". According to statistics, during the 22 years of Kuomintang rule, hundreds of patriots were arrested from all over the country, escorted to Nanjing and killed there. Among them, there are members of the Central Committee such as Hui, Deng Zhongxia and Luo Dengxian, party member, the Communist Party of China, who led the people of Jiangsu in the revolutionary struggle, Lv Zhiying, commander and chief of staff of the anti-Japanese column of the Coalition forces in northern Jiangsu, and Sun Luchuan, former secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee.
Yuhuatai martyrs monument-revolutionary martyrs memorial hall
Standing on the platform of the main peak of Yuhuatai is the Martyrs Monument. The original tablet is the cornerstone, and the tablet is engraved with six glittering characters of "Long live the martyrs", which is a collection of Chairman Mao's calligraphy. On the newly-built monument, Deng Xiaoping inscribed "Yuhuatai Martyrs Monument" in eight characters.
Yuhuatai Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall, located in Renjiashan, Yuhuatai, was rebuilt from the former Anyin Temple. 1956 officially opened to the outside world, 1983 rebuilt. This is a two-story white classical building with the name inscribed by Deng Xiaoping. The museum has a total collection of historical materials100000 words, objects 1500 pieces, and more than 800 photos, posthumous works and auxiliary materials of 7/kloc-0 martyrs such as Hui and Deng Zhongxia.
Today, when we walk on the Yuhuatai cemetery covered with martyrs' blood and pay tribute to the martyrs who died for the revolution, the revolutionary spirit of revolutionary martyrs' perseverance and death will always inspire us to advance wave after wave and fight bravely for the revolutionary ideal.