Historical problems in the inscriptions on the Monument to the People's Heroes

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Brief introduction of monument to the people's heroes

The Monument to the People's Heroes is located in the center of Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

The Monument to the People's Heroes is square, with a total construction area of 3,000 square meters and a height of 37.94 meters. The base is divided into two floors, surrounded by white marble railings and surrounded by steps that communicate with the ground of Tiananmen Square. The base is begonia-shaped, with a width of 50.44m from east to west and a length of 61.5m from north to south. The upper seat is square. Supporting the monument is a two-story Xumi Mountain. The lower sumitomo is gathered at the waist, surrounded by eight huge white marble reliefs and two decorative reliefs. The themes are opium eradication in Humen, jintian uprising, Wuchang Uprising, May 4th Movement, May 30th Movement, Nanchang Uprising, Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War and the victory of crossing the river by a million troops. The relief is 2m high, 2-6.4m wide and 40.68m long. * * There are more than 170 carved figures, which vividly and generally show the arduous course of the China Revolution from the Opium War to the founding of New China. Eight garlands, composed of chrysanthemums, lilies, lotus flowers and peonies, are deeply loved by the people of China and carved around Shangxumi Mountain. The center of the monument is a huge stone, with a length of 14.7 m, a width of 2.9 m, a thickness of 1 m and a weight of about10 ton. The front (north) of the monument is engraved with eight gold-plated characters inscribed by Mao Zedong, and the back (south) is inscribed by Zhou Enlai. The sides of the monument are decorated with garlands consisting of five stars, pine and cypress and flags. The whole monument is composed of more than 65,438+07,000 pieces of granite and white marble. It stands in the south of the center of Tiananmen Square and faces Tiananmen Square in the north, which is very majestic.

The cornerstone of the monument

1949 On the eve of the founding ceremony in People's Republic of China (PRC), the whole country rejoiced for the coming Republic of China. On this day, the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference adopted a resolution to build a monument to the people's heroes in the capital.

At 6 pm that day, Mao Zedong led all CPPCC members to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in Tiananmen Square to lay the foundation stone for the Monument to the People's Heroes.

Subsequently, the Beijing Municipal Planning Commission issued a notice on the planning and design of the memorial hall to all architectural design units and university architecture departments across the country. By 195 1 year, * * received more than 40 copies of various design schemes and design modification schemes1year (by the time of finalization, * * received more than 240 copies). Overseas Chinese are also actively offering suggestions. Chen Jiageng Overseas Chinese Leaders organized overseas Chinese to draw drawings and make cement stigma models, which cost 6.5438+0.5 million yuan (old coins) and were sent to the Construction Engineering Office of the Monument to the People's Heroes.

During the construction of the monument, President Mao Zedong wrote "Immortal People's Heroes" on June 9th, 1955. Premier Zhou Enlai wrote an inscription for the first plenary session of the China People's Political Consultative Conference drafted by President Mao Zedong.

In the archives of Beijing Archives, there is also a draft inscription on the cornerstone of the monument, which was personally revised by Mao Zedong. The original title is "the foundation stone laying ceremony of China People's Liberation War and China People's Revolutionary Martyrs Monument" inscribed by Comrade Peng Zhen. Mao Zedong deleted the words "the groundbreaking ceremony of the monument" and changed it to "the people's heroes who died in the China People's Liberation War and the China People's Revolution are immortal!" The revised inscription is profound and incisive, magnificent and full of emotion, expressing the admiration for the martyrs.

(Beijing Archives)

Materials for stone collection and transportation of historic sites

This monument consists of 17000 granite and white marble. The monument is purple-gray granite, the relief and railing are white marble, the two-story platform is paved with cyan granite, and the surrounding road is orange-yellow granite. Stones come from Fangshan in Beijing and Tai 'an in Shandong, among which the stele comes from Fushan in Qingdao.

The core stone of the monument from Qingdao Fushan is the most important stone in the construction of the monument, which is a rare complete granite in the architectural history of China. The stone blank is14.4m long, 2.72m wide, 3m thick and weighs over 320 tons. The relief stone was collected from the white marble mine in Fangshan, Beijing. The monument adopts reinforced concrete pipes, which firmly bind the base and the stones of the monument. The inscriptions on the front and back of the stele are engraved on the stone surface with negative characters, and then made into steel tires with gold characters by traditional Chinese gold plating method. Inscription inscription * * * gold 130 or more.

The whole monument is composed of 1.7 million pieces of granite and white marble, which is majestic and solemn.

(Beijing Archives)

Creation tidbits of the Monument to the People's Heroes

/kloc-overall lifting of the 0/00t monument

1953 In the spring, a large stone core was dug in Fushan, Qingdao, and the net weight after processing was 103 tons. Lifting technology and tools are transferred by Angang and transported to the railway station. A bureau of Northeast Electric Power Administration called a 90-ton platform, and Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant helped to overhaul two lifting booms, each of which can safely lift 50 tons and 40 meters. The hoisting method of the whole100t stone was once one of the projects repeatedly studied by the Monument Construction Committee.

Inscription by Mao Zedong

After the shape of the monument was determined, Mao Zedong wrote the inscription "Immortal People's Heroes" on June 9th, 1955.

When the leaders of the municipal government handed Mao Zedong's handwriting to the Construction Committee and the design team, everyone was overjoyed and rushed to see the leader's handwriting. Unexpectedly, Mao Zedong wrote two paintings, and everyone was impressed by Mao Zedong's fluent calligraphy art. Mao Zedong's original works were written on Chinese-style Xuan paper stationery, arranged vertically from right to left, and each word was about 8 to 9 centimeters in size.

In order to make the handwriting meet the construction requirements, it is necessary to do a series of meticulous work such as word selection and amplification. At that time, it was decided that Xie Changhe would be in charge of this work. After accepting the task, the first thing is to decide which one to choose. After studying with related comrades, in addition to the two original works, we also chose two perfect words to make a picture, so we came up with three plans. With the progress of construction, the scheme must be selected as soon as possible. After repeated research by leaders and relevant comrades, Mr. Wei Changqing, a calligrapher, was invited to participate in the discussion. Mr. Wei pointed out that calligraphy is an art, and the font of a word and a flag has its charm, brushwork and coherence, which cannot be separated. Finally, determine one of them, which is now installed.

After the inscription scheme is determined, how to enlarge the monument into physical samples according to its size is put on the agenda. Taking the word "Yong" as an example, the monument is 2.2 meters high, originally 9.5 centimeters, that is, it needs to be enlarged 23 times to meet the design requirements. To this end, Xie Changhe and others went to the slide club, and then went to Dabei Photo Studio, which has a high level of photography technology in Beijing, to discuss with technicians about enlarging the inscription. Finally, it was found that according to the technical conditions at that time, they could not complete the task if they wanted to ensure accurate amplification. For a time, font enlargement became a problem.

The cost of role casting is 132 Liang.

Since then, after the inscription was solved, the question of what kind of brushwork to engrave has been placed in front of us. According to the tradition of China, there are many forms, such as masculine and feminine. Xie Changhe and others consulted a variety of literature and history materials and made field trips to Beihai and the Summer Palace. Finally, they came to the conclusion that it was better to use the yin one. Its advantages are easy to carve, the shadow of the inscription naturally forms a three-dimensional sense, and the gold lettering is also convenient to install. With the consent of the leaders, it was decided to use cursive script and the strokes were V-shaped. Eight full-scale models of Chinese characters were made, which created favorable conditions for construction.

The theme of the monument is gold lettering, which requires high construction requirements and is foolproof. With the close cooperation of Beijing No.1 Rectangular Character Production Cooperative and Beijing No.1 Hardware Production Cooperative, construction technicians and experienced masons have completed many processes, such as engraving grooves, making characters, gilding, installation and calendering. All gold characters * * * are gold 132.

The top of the monument was completed by the younger generation.

According to Mr. Xie Changhe, a senior architectural engineer who participated in the construction of the Monument to the People's Heroes, the design of the monument top once became a difficult problem, and the focus was mainly on the form of the monument top. According to the idea put forward at that time, some people advocated setting up a Chinese ancient treasure top on the monument, some people advocated setting up a statue, and some people advocated setting up a ruby five-pointed star ... opinions were not unified.

195 1 On the National Day, several models of Baoding were displayed at the base of the monument in Tiananmen Square for public consultation.

In order to determine the form of the monument at an early date, the leaders of the Beijing Municipal Committee invited the famous historian Fan Wenlan and other relevant experts to discuss it. After discussion, Premier Zhou made a decision. Since the form of flat roof is not uniform, don't use treasure roof. Didn't Dr. Sun Yat-sen say that "the revolution has not been successful, comrades still have to work hard", so let the younger generation complete the shape of the monument! In this way, the top of the monument left a platform about two meters square. It can be said that the shape of the monument is an unfinished masterpiece.

The monument turned 180 degrees.

Regarding the determination of the front direction of the monument, according to the tradition in China, the front direction of the Monument to the People's Heroes is written in eight Chinese characters by Mao Zedong, which was originally designed in the south.

During the construction, it was suggested that people should face the front of the monument when entering the square from the east and west Chang 'an Avenue, and it was also suggested that the front should face north. According to the opinions of the masses reported to Premier Zhou Enlai. After careful consideration, Zhou Enlai decided that the north is the front of the monument. In this way, the monument was rotated by 180 degrees, and the eight glittering Chinese characters "People's heroes are immortal" were embedded in the north of the monument.

Notes on Relief Creation of Monument to the People's Heroes

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the Beijing Municipal Committee, the Construction Committee of the Monument to the People's Heroes in the Capital was established with Comrade Peng Zhen as the director. According to the spirit of the resolution of the first session of CPPCC, the first large-scale artistic creation activity in China after liberation-the ten-sided relief creation of the Monument to the People's Heroes was organized. With the joint efforts of sculptors, painters, historians, architects and stone carving artists, it took six years to complete the largest first memorial building project in China at that time. Thirty years later, this project won the Best Works Award of the First National Urban Sculpture Award.

1952 in the second half of the year, some teachers and students of the East China Branch of the Central Academy of Fine Arts began to prepare for the relief creation of the Monument to the People's Heroes built in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. On the one hand, stone carving artists with considerable technical level were invited from Beijing, Quyang and other places to teach them in the Academy of Fine Arts to improve their artistic accomplishment and let them learn how to use the money counter to paint realistic stone carving works. On the other hand, mobilize people from all over the country and organize some historians, painters and sculptors to discuss and study. According to the inscription content adopted by CPPCC, the theme and content of decahedron relief are drawn up. After a series of research, interviews, social surveys and other work, a dozen theme design schemes were initially put forward, and the opinions of leaders and people from all walks of life were widely solicited. Under the specific leadership of Liu Kaiqu and other comrades, after repeated discussions, the theme and composition were re-adjusted, and the positive theme was determined as "crossing the river successfully, liberating all China, supporting the front line and welcoming the People's Liberation Army", with Mr. Liu Kaiqu as the main draft; On the west is Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War, written by Mr. Zhang Songhe; Nanchang Uprising on August 1st was written by Mr. Xiao Chuanjiu. The May 30th Movement behind it was written by Mr. Wang Linyi. May 4th Movement was written by Mr. An Tian; Wuchang Uprising was written by Mr. Fu. Jintian uprising in the east was written by Mr. Wang; Burning Opium was written by Mr. Ceng Zhushao. After the theme was determined, we began to shape the 1/4 manuscript, visited all walks of life, collected video materials, and began to conduct scientific investigation and research on stone materials. In order to get more creative time, the scheme of building the pedestal first and then installing the stone relief was adopted. In the process of creation, the small draft is not only sent to the Municipal Party Committee for discussion and reported to the Central Committee for approval, but also displayed in Beihai Park to listen to the opinions of the masses. On this basis, the draft 1/2 was formed. And organized old experts to visit and inspect the major grottoes in China, took a lot of photos and materials, and copied a lot of physical objects. Through the analysis and research of many reliefs at home and abroad, the style of today's works is determined, that is, the proportion of reliefs is appropriate, the scene is magnificent, lively and profound; It is in harmony with other buildings in the square not only in color, but also in proportion and volume, and has become a good image teaching material to praise heroes and educate people.

In the creative process at that time, after repeated discussions, several issues that need to be unified were determined, that is, whether there are specific characters in the picture, whether there are negative characters, whether to praise heroes by exposing the cruelty of the enemy, and so on. After exchanging views from top to bottom, it was finally established that there were no specific heroes, and in a limited picture, the image of people's heroes who fought bravely, were not afraid of sacrifice and struggled hard was more summarized, and the cruel side of the enemy was not exposed too much. As for composition, at that time, there were not only the expression techniques of the Parthenon in Greece for reference, but also the composition methods of China's ritual Buddha patterns, and even the "oath" composition in the great perspective of the Soviet Union. Through research and discussion, the current composition method is determined, which is not limited to parallel composition. Each composition is content-based, as full as possible, paying attention to mutual echo and maintaining harmony with the building.

Dozens of comrades have participated in this creative activity. According to my memory, they are described as follows. People who participated in this creative activity in those years are welcome to add and modify.

The principals and main process design principals are Xue Zizheng, Jia, Liang Sicheng, Zheng Zhenduo, Ruan Zhida, Jing, Ling and Hua Kezhuan.

Sculptors and young assistants who participated in the preparation and finalization are Zhang Songhe, Xiao Chuanjiu, Wang Linyi, Hua Tianyou, Fu, Wang, Ceng Zhushao, Liu Shiming, Wang Zhuoyu, Xie Jiasheng, Shen Haiju, Chen Tianxia, Wang Peng, Chen Shuguang, Wu Rujian, Li Zhenxiang, Zu Wenxuan and Wang Wanjing. Li Tangshou, Guan, Qin, etc. Learn stone carving first, then be an assistant.

Painters include Wu Zuoren, Gu Yuan, Ai Zhongxin, Feng Fa, Dong, Li Zongjin,, and Youth.

At that time, there were arts and crafts artists Qiu Ling and Luo Tianmian who participated in the design of the monument, and Zhang Kaixian, Arjun huang, Zhou Xizhen and others who participated in the pattern carving.

Monument to the People's Heroes is not only highly artistic, but also has profound ideological connotation. Through vivid relief pictures, people can understand the history of blood and fire created by people's heroes in the past 100 years. Relief objectively evaluates history and praises the eternal theme that "the people are the masters of history".

The creative collective of monument relief, regardless of remuneration or fame and fortune, has successfully completed the task, and at the same time trained a large number of talents and made contributions to international cultural exchanges. When friends from five continents visit China, they will stand in front of this monument and offer wreaths. The troupe has successively received visits from international friends such as the famous Bulgarian sculptor, the famous Soviet sculptor Manizer and the Japanese painter Feng Chun Yamaguchi, and made due contributions to the development of China culture.

Attachment: List of some stone carving artists

Ran, Liu Runfang, Wang Ersheng, Liu Lanxing, Liu, Cao, Liu Jinsheng, Yang Zhiqing, Yang Zhijin, Liu Dianshu, Liu Zhihui, Liu Zhijie, Gao Yuyan, Cao Bangyu, Liu Yinqi, Liu Yindeng and Liu Jiyin. (Wen Li Yuxiang)

References:

http://2 18 . 86 . 12 1.20/czpd/jxzyc/yw/ 1/23/kb/3/kzzl . htm