The Brief Introduction of East Tower Park-Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park

Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park was established in December, 1996 which was a public unit subordinated to Chenzhou City Affair Authority and governed by Chenzhou Garden Administrative Office. It is located in Dongtaling where is in southeast suburb of Chenzhou urban area. The 38.7hectares big park is divided into three tops as east top (with an elevation of 242meters), west top (with an elevation of 218.8meters) and Tangjia mountain. It is the second municipal comprehensive park available in Chenzhou city.

“Chenzhou East Tower Park” which was established on May 17, 1996 was changed to be “Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park”(the monument of Xiangnan Intifada) on November 28, 1996. Because Chenzhou people used to call it as Dongta (east tower), the place is still called as Dongtaling. But all people know it is Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park. It was approved as Chenzhou municipal patriotism education base. Some facilities as “Xiangnan Intifada” autographed by Deng Xiaoping, martyr aisle autographed by General Xiaoke, General Yang Dezhi’s poems memorial for memorizing revolutionary martyrs, Xia Mingzheng Grave, showroom of Xiangnan Intifada, and etc. are available in the park. The foundation stone laying ceremony for Memorial of Xiangnan Intifada which was autographed by Hu Bangyao was held on September 5, 2008.

The main area for the park is the memorial part. An adjustment project was handled out for the park in 1998 on the basis of 1987’s general plan for the park. “Three entrances” and “eight zones” as south entrance, special entrance and north entrance, and memorial zone, youth activity zone, greening land zone, the aged zone, river bank zone, leisure zone, production zone and industrial development zone were set in the park. Currently, the key facilities of the park are: Xiangnan Intifada Monument, Chenzhou martyr aisle, memorial pavilion, Xia Mingzheng Grave, 476 stairs from south gate to the monument and some other infrastructures. This park is the exclusive public memorial park of Chenzhou city, which is with great social effects

1. Historical figures

Ancient“overview of east mountain” was located in Dongtaling (current Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park) of the old central urban area of Chenzhou city. It is divided as east top (with an elevation of 242meters) and west top (with an elevation of 218.8meters). According to “Wangli Chenzhou Record” of Ming Dynasty and Jiaqing “general record of Chenzhou” of Qing Dynasty, Dongtaling was used to be named as East Mountain. Liu Zhan who won number one scholar and became an honest and upright premier of Tang Dynasty was from Chenzhou. His story was often praised by the poets as “Premier Liu’s reading room”. It became one of the eight ancient Chenyang scenic spots from Song and Yuan Dynasty. During the period of Tianqi of Ming Dynasty, a seven-floor octagonal tower was built in the peak of the mountain, but was destroyed during “the Cultural Revolution”, that’s why it was name as Dongtaling (east tower top). In the winter of the 35th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong (AD1771), the officer Yang Sang’e built a star pavilion there, but was destroyed later. Du Shixi who was from Man minority set up a Dongshan Academy there to memorize Liu Zhan during his administration period in Chenzhou. Because both the two tops are located in the east of Chenzhou, it was named as Dongtaling (east tower top), and also because people can enjoy the top view of Chenzhou on climbing the peak, it was named as “overview of Chenzhou” which was one of the eight ancient scenic spots of Chenzhou.

2. Traffic and geography

Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park is near Chenjiang river in the west direction, lying on Dongta road in the south direction, and connected with Sushi road and Chenzhou Avenue in the north and east direction. It is divided into three scenery areas as Dongtaling, small Dongtaling and Tangjia mountain.

According to the planning, tourism organization and the amount of visitors, two vehicle lanes with 1500meters long and 4meters wide and 1200meters long and 4meters wide were built in Tangjia mountain and Dongtaling park respectively. The lanes are mainly used for vehicle travel, landscape construction, firefighter and connection of the sceneries. Footpaths were also set in Dongtaling park and Tangjia mountain park. The first class footpath is about 1.8-2.6meters wide which would be mainly used to the main sceneries with higher tourists flow; and the second class footpath is about 0.6-1.2meters wide which would be mainly used for connecting with some secondary sceneries. It is an open park available for all people. Some public buses as Line21, Line16, Line17, Line33, Line51 and Line 57 are past from the park. People who live in central urban area can walk to the park in 5 minutes, while people who live in suburb can take the bus there in 20-30minutes.

Public bus lines: 

Line16: Train station- Chenzhou Forth Elementary School

Operation time: 6:40a.m.-23:00

Route: train station- Laodong road- Guoqing road north- Jiankang road, Beihu road- Wenhua road- Xijie- Dongjie- Caojiaping road (the monument of Xiangnan Intifada)- Chenzhou Forth Elementary School (return)- Caojiaping road (the monument of Xiangnan Intifada)- Dongjie- Xijie- Wenhua road- Beihu road-Jiefang road- train station

Line57:Flourmill –Moxintang

Operation time:7:00a.m.-18:20

Route: Flourmill-Tongxin road- Guoqing road north- Guoqing road south- Nanta road- Nanjie- Dongjie- Caojiaping road (the monument of Xiangnan Intifada)- Yashiqiao- Soy sauce factory- Tangxin road (return by the same route)

3. Landscape features

The design for the greening land scenery of Chenzhou Martyr Memorial Park was figured out on the basis of function demands and topographic condition and was divided into ecological landscape and memorial landscape by making use of forest, trees, memorial facilities, and etc. It also took best advantages of original geomorphic features and natural landscapes to figure out the layout reasonably with elaborate design. On the basis of original plants, it planted more evergreen and deciduous species with reasonable adjustment, which was purposely to show better natural landscape and plants views to all visitors with better effect. It also used some modern maintenance methods and advanced materials to protect and represent the natural, historical and modern landscapes.