Peng Xuefeng Memorial

Peng Xuefeng Memorial is located in Balizhuang Village, 17 kilometres northeast of the county seat. It was built in 1985 in memory of General Peng Xuefeng, Commander of the 4th Division of the New Fourth Army, who sacrificed his life in the Battle of Balizhuang.

Covering an area of 9,900 square metres, the memorial faces south with its main building oriented to the north, surrounded by lush green pines and cypresses. Inside the compound stand a monument and a half-length statue of Peng Xuefeng. The horizontal board above the exhibition hall bears the inscription "Exhibition Hall of Comrade Peng Xuefeng’s Life and Deeds", handwritten by Zhang Aiping, former Chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Commission.

The exhibition hall displays nearly 1,000 precious photos and written materials dating from 1907 to 1944, recording General Peng’s brilliant military achievements and noble moral character. Also on show are elegiac couplets, mourning scrolls, poems and inscriptions presented by state and Party leaders including Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi and Li Xiannian.

Amid pines, cypresses and fresh flowers in the southeast corner of the memorial stands a stone tablet engraved with "The Place Where General Peng Xuefeng Sacrificed His Life", which embodies people’s eternal remembrance and boundless respect for the revolutionary martyr.

Within the memorial compound stands a Western-style church built by Spanish missionaries in 1925. It was right here that General Peng Xuefeng directed the battle and secured a victory. When the fighting was drawing to an end as he inspected the frontline, he was struck in the left chest by a stray bullet and laid down his life heroically.

Since the nationwide liberation, leaders from the Party, the state, the military and governments at provincial, prefectural and county levels have come every year to pay their respects. Local villagers also keep coming to offer sacrifices in an endless stream.

At the inauguration ceremony in October 1984, Yang Shangkun, Zhang Zhen, Teng Haiqing, Xiao Wangdong, Zhao Wenfu, Yang Xizong, together with Peng Xuefeng’s wife Lin Ying and their son Peng Xiaofeng, attended the unveiling and ribbon-cutting event.

In 1987, the memorial was designated a Provincial Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit of Henan Province and a Patriotic Education Base for Teenagers.

In 2006, the county Party committee and county government allocated special funds for comprehensive renovation. They updated and enriched photos and written records, installed an automatic audio guide system, and replaced the original statue with a tall white marble sculpture, whose back is carved with a full biography of General Peng Xuefeng. A new square was built in front of the memorial, along with an asphalt road connecting the site to the county seat.