Cimiteri Dei Martiri Rivoluzionari in Cina E Nord Corea of Graz

NUMERO 8 - dicembre 2015 Gwendolyn Leick Commemorare e seppellire i compagni morti: Born in Austria, studied Assyriology at the Karl-Franz University Cimiteri dei martiri rivoluzionari in Cina e Nord Corea of Graz. Moved to England in 1975 and taught at various British universities; the last twenty years at the department of Interior and Spatial Design at Chelsea College of Art and Design as senior lecture in History and Theory. Recent publications: The Babylonians) Commemorating and burying dead comrades: Tombs of the Great Leaders. A Contemporary Guide. Reaktion 2013 Revolutionary martyrs’ cemeteries in China and North Korea Il documento esamina vasti cimiteri costruiti per The paper examines the state sponsored, often vast seppellire o commemorare i “martiri” caduti durante le cemeteries built to bury or commemorate the fallen guerre rivoluzionarie o civili nei due paesi comunisti, la ‘martyrs’ during revolutionary or civil wars in two Cina e la Corea del Nord. La legittimazione dei governi è Communist countries, China and North Korea. The sempre stata una questione importante in questi luoghi legitimization of governments has always been an di sepoltura e la recente ristrutturazione dell’esistente, important issue with such burial sites and recent così come nuove costruzioni, in entrambi i paesi renovations of existing, as well as new constructions, mostrano l’attualità della politica. Interessante è anche in both countries show the continuing relevance il modo in cui simbolismo architettonico, scultoreo e of the policy. Of interest is also the way in which paesaggistico sono stati impiegati per la costruzione architectural, sculptural and landscape symbolization di immagini che a volte provocano messaggi ideologici were employed to construct imagery that sometimes intenzionali. defies intended ideological messages. Parole chiave: Cina; Cimiteri di guerra; Rivoluzione; Ideologia; Paesaggio Keywords: China; War cemeteries; Revolution; Ideology, Landscape http://in_bo.unibo.it NUMERO 8 - dicembre 2015 I. Revolution by Sun Yat-sen, which led to foundation of of civilians and soldiers alike. China was the Chinese Republic under the leadership also drawn in to the Korean War from 1950- “Both for the production on a mass scale of of the nationalist Kuomintang Party (KMT) 1953 when thousands of volunteers fought this communist consciousness, and for the which could not prevent large parts of the another revolutionary war against the US success of the cause itself, the alteration country, especially the north, to fall under and South-Korean forces. of men on a mass scale is, necessary, the control of warlords. Japan’s imperialist Korea had been under Japanese control an alteration which can only take place control over Manchuria and Mongolia since the late 1890s and finally annexed in a practical movement, a revolution; (began during the Russo-Japanese war in 1910. The Korean revolution was thus this revolution is necessary, therefore, and continued during World War I) triggered from the beginning a struggle for national not only because the ruling class cannot further revolts in the south of China and independence, with the communist party be overthrown in any other way, but also resulted in the May 4 Movement of 1919 being the most important faction. It was because the class overthrowing it can only which rejected the demands imposed in an agreement between the Russia and in a revolution succeed in ridding itself of all China during the Versailles Conference the United States that divided the Korean the muck of ages and become fitted to found and hence the revolution became an anti- Peninsula at the 38th parallel in 1945. Helped society anew.” Karl Marx1 imperialist fight for independence, in which by Soviet Russia Kim Il Sung set up the the Chinese Communist Party, founded in Provisional with the capital Pyongyang, while The clearing out of the ‘muck of ages’ invoked 1921, took an active role. The nationalist the US supported the regime of the ardent here by Marx inevitably involves a Herculean party under Chiang Kai-shek succeeded in anti-communist Syngmann Rhee. From the effort and those engaged in such a struggle taking Shanghai and Nanjing in 1927 but the perspective of North Korea the invasion of must be prepared for chaos and violence alliance between communist and nationalist southern territory and ensuing civil war, out of which the longed new and more just revolutionaries proved to be short-lived which saw substantial US and Chinese society would emerge. In order to gain an when in the ensuing power struggle, the military interventions, were a continuation understanding of the complex ideological KMT engaged in mass exterminations of the anti-imperialist revolution. The end of messages embedded in the cemeteries of their erstwhile allies. The communist this bloody conflict saw the establishment that were build to commemorate the dead revolutionaries led by Mao Zedong fought of the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s revolutionaries a brief look at the historical against nationalist forces as well as Republic of Korea which continues to be background is essential. Japanese forces. The defeat of Japan in 1945 ruled by the Korean Communist Party under In China the revolution was a particularly eliminated the latter enemy but the civil war Kim Il Sung’s descendants, largely with the protracted one and involved a series of continued until 1949 when the Red Army support of the People’s Republic of China. revolutions. What began with the quickly had forced Chiang Kai-shek to withdraw to repressed Boxer Uprising of 1900 to Taiwan and had managed to wrest control II. Revolutionary Martyrs overthrow the corrupt Manchu court in 1900 from the remaining warlords. This nearly 50 succeeded in 1911 with the insurrection led year long war had cost the lives of millions “This (revolutionary) army embraces the http://in_bo.unibo.it 167 NUMERO 8 - dicembre 2015 spirit of moving forward unstoppably and of relevance to refer to revolutionaries killed in overwhelming all enemies, but never to be action who served as models for the living.5 overcome. Under any circumstance, as long as there is one man left, he must fight to the Insurrectional Martyrs Cemeteries (1911- end.” Mao Zedong2 1937) (Fig. 2) The first martyrs’ cemetery served as (Fig. 1) This image from a popular Chinese a mass burial place and monument for poster shows such fighter. Blown out of the some eighty of the revolutionaries who had violent chaos of warfare he appears lifted off perished during the failed uprising against into a apotheosis, a transfiguration into the the Qing government in March/April 1911. almost divine heroic martyr, “who would not Once the rebellion had succeeded the only sacrifice part of their own interests, but Nationalists (KMT) constructed it between also their own lives without hesitation, for the 1912 and 1921 at the Yellow Flower Mound sake of revolutionary interest and needs”, in Huanghua Gan in Guanzhou (Canton). according to the revolutionary general Zhou The image above shows the Martyrs’ De.3 Tomb and behind it a memorial wall made of stones, surmounted by a “Statue The etymology of the word ‘martyr’ in most of Liberty, symbolizing the martyrs’ European languages derives from the noble spirit of fighting for freedom and Greek and meant originally ‘witness’; the democracy” according to the official current meaning arose in the 13th century description.6 The cemetery is entered to characterize the Christians who publicly through a monumental gate and a straight testified their faith and were put to death path leads to the tomb. The design is in as a result. In Chinese, the word lieshi 先 keeping with the modernizing trends in 烈 consists of a part 列 that means ‘order, Chinese architecture at the time with its position, row,’ and the bottom half which borrowings from western culture, such as symbolises fire. The second sign 士 is an could be seen in the foreign concessions in honourable word for “man”.4 lieshi have long Shanghai and other treaty ports. history in China; ever since the since Warring States period (475 -221 BC) officials who The first martyrs’ cemetery had been built had lost their lives as result of maintaining within the city of Guangzhou and served Fig. 1 Zhang Hongti, 1992, May, Huang Jiguang - educational moral integrity in the face of state brutality. to bury the first significant dead of the posters of heroic persons, http://chineseposters.net/themes/ th In the 20 century the word was given a new uprising. The second important martyrs’ models.php http://in_bo.unibo.it 168 NUMERO 8 - dicembre 2015 cemetery was built on the prestigious Purple Mountain, close to Nanjing between 1933 and 1935, during the time when the Nationalists were in power. It was a Nationalist cemetery for officers and soldiers killed in the Northern Expedition and during the battle against the Japanese in Shanghai. (Fig. 3) As can be seen on the poster that is displayed at the site that is now a “Scenic spot”, the cemetery on the far right was built on the grounds of Linngu temple. It is next to the sumptuous mausoleum of KMT leader Sun Yat-Sen that had been completed five years earlier in 1928. On the left side is the tomb complex of Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang from 1405. That all these burial sites benefit from excellent feng shui is typical for the Nationalist respect for pre-revolutionary Chinese burial customs. The Linngu cemetery has a similar in layout as the mausoleum of Sun Yat- Sen and consists of a sequence of front gate, memorial archway (with quotations by Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat-sen), a sacrificial hall with memorial stele Fig. 2 The Cemetery of Huanghuagang Martyrs, in http:// Fig. 4 Linggu Pogoda in http://www.magic-city-news.com/R_P_ inscribed with names of the Fallen), the www.asiavtour.com/China_Guangdong_Guangzhou_The%20 BenDedek_33/Sun_Yat-sen_s_Mausoleum_Nanjing10017.shtml memorial hall and the cenotaph Pagoda, Cemetery%20of%20Huanghuagang%2072%20Martyrs_Photo%20 designed by the American architect Henry Gallery_a389_s10_c1594.html Fig.

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