Research On Anti-Japanese War Martyrs Memorial Facilities In Hunan Province

In the eight-year war against Japanese, Hunan Province played an important role in it. Due to its special strategic position, Hunan acted as the main battle field during the stage of strategic stalemate. Six major battles stopped the aggression of Japanese army and built a solid basis for the success of the final war. A large number of soldiers died during these fierce battles in Hunan. The courage and the fearlessness toward death deserve our respect and commemoration. Consequently, a wide range of anti-Japanese revolutionary bases were built in memory of those soldiers in Hunan from year to year.The anti-Japanese martyrs memorial facilities in Hunan province are in great number many of which are representative such as the national largest-scaled anti-Japanese martyrs cemetery---Nanyue Martyr Hall; the unique anti-war town in China---Hengyang Anti-Japanese War Memorial Town; the only building symbolizing Chinese victory in the Anti-Japanese war---Zhijiang Surrender Memorial Archway and so on. All these architectures have fully proved the significance of Hunan province and the great sacrifice of Hunan residents in the Anti-Japanese war. Therefore, these facilities should be granted enough protection and utilization to inherit the spirit of the martyrs to the later generations.Nowadays, within Hunan province, there are too many memorial facilities to be studied and recorded. As a result, the author had access to a large number of archives, local history and related works and papers, and anti-Japanese martyrs memorial facilities within fieldwork. To dig into the historical values and significance of memorial facilities within Hunan province, the author did a thorough survey and research on the present memorial facilities within Hunan province.This paper is based on the analysis of survey of present memorial facilities within Hunan province, the construction of memorial facilities from the early time of anti-Japanese war to the time of opening up and reform and the significance of building those memorial facilities. With those research and study, not only can we have a thorough survey on the memorial facilities for those sacrificed anti-Japanese martyrs, but also it can look back on the history of anti-Japanese within the province, enforce the propaganda of patriotism in particular. Meanwhile, the problems and the unsatisfying aspects of the memorial facilities can be found, thus arousing the awareness of protecting them.