Comrade Xiang Jingyu Memorial, located at Xupu County of Hunan Province, is a museum in memory of Xiang Jingyu, a pioneer of woman emancipation movement. The memorial used to be the administration office of Xiang Jingyu's former residence, opened to the public on July 1, 1981. On September 4, 1985, the name was changed into the present one.
Comrade Xiang Jingyu Memorial is the only thematic memorial in the country dedicated to the remembrance of Comrade Xiang Jingyu (a women’s rights activist executed by the Kuomintang in 1928. She was recognized by Chairman Mao Zedong as the sole female founder of the Communist Party of China). Located at No. 27, Jingyu West Road of Lufeng Town and covering an area of 11,680 square meters, it was open to the public in 1981. In 1984, Comrade Hu Yaobang inscribed the name of Comrade Xiang Jingyu Memorial Hall, and in 1995, Comrade Jiang Zemin inscribed the name of Former Residence of Comrade Xiang Jingyu. Former Residence of Comrade Xiang Jingyu was designated as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1996 and national women’s patriotism education base in 2015. The memorial has been listed as a national AAA-level tourist scenic spot, patriotism education base of Hunan Province, provincial defense education base, provincial base for social sciences popularization, provincial key red tourist attraction, provincial civilized scenic spot, Hunan Development and Reform System education base for the Party spirit and ethics, and provincial youth education base.
The memorial is composed of three parts, Comrade Xiang Jingyu’s Former Residence, the Exhibition Room of Comrade Xiang Jingyu’s Life Story and the Monument Square. The Xiang Jingyu’s Former Residence, covering a space of 1,400 square meters, is a Siheyuan (a compound with houses around a square courtyard) in wooden structure with local features. Xiang Jingyu was born On September 4, 1895 and spent her teenage years here. In 1922, after attending the Second National Congress of the CPC, she returned to Xupu for the last time and lived here for more than two months. The Exhibition of Comrade Xiang Jingyu’s Original Handwritings inside the former residence shows over 30 exhibits of her compositions, diaries and reading notes of her school days, as well as the articles and letters written during her revolutionary activities.
The Exhibition Room of Comrade Xiang Jingyu’s Life Story lies to the east side of the former residence. The exhibits include the manuscripts of articles and letters she wrote in the period of the founding of the CPC and the First Civil Revolutionary War across four sections: schooling days, women leader, a heroine’s death and eternal remembrance.
In the Monument Square is a monument with Comrade Xiang Jingyu’s bronze statue of 7.85 meters in height and 2.8 tons in weight. The monument is engraved with the full article of the Biography of Comrade Xiang Jingyu written by Comrade Cai Hesen in July 1928 in Moscow.
(Translated by Yang Hong)