Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery - History

History

The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, with an area of 0.10 square kilometres and located in the western frontiers of Beijing's massive urban sprawl, was first built as a temple in honor of General Gang Bing, a Ming Dynasty soldier who castrated himself as an act of obedience for Emperor Yongle. The emperor designated the area surrounding the temple as the final resting place of concubines and eunuchs. Over time, the Taoist temple became a place for retired eunuchs only, which it remained for five centuries of imperial rule until it was converted to honor the elite of the Chinese Communist Party five decades ago. The official name of the temple was (Chinese: 褒忠护国祠; pinyin: bāo zhōng hù guó cí), roughly translating into Temple of Loyalty and Defender of the Nation.

The last abbot of the temple was Xin Xiuming (信修明), who was married and had two children. Due to the harsh living conditions of rural China, Xin Xiuming, when he was 19 and against the strong oppositions of his family members, castrated himself and became a eunuch for Puyi. After the establishment of Republic of China, Xin Xiuming left the Forbidden City and went to live in the Temple of Loyalty to the Nation, and by 1930, he had risen to the top as the abbot of the Taoist temple. Under Abbot Xin's management, the Taoist temple prospered as an agricultural business establishment: 52 Chinese acres of land that the temple owned were farmed by the eunuchs themselves, another 157 Chinese acres of land the temple owned were farmed jointly by eunuchs and tenant farmers, and the remaining 269 Chinese acres of land the temple owned were rented out to be farmed by tenant farmers. When the communists decided to turn the temple into a cemetery, Abbot Xin Xiuming was able to negotiate with the then deputy mayor of Beijing, Mr. Wu Han a good deal for the eunuchs: the government would pay the full price for all assets of the temple, and pay each eunuch a monthly pension until his death. The abbot also convinced the government to arrange vehicles to help relocate eunuchs to two new locations. Those older eunuchs were relocated to a Taoist temple for eunuchs at Colored Glazed River (Liulihe), and the rest were located to another Taoist temple for eunuchs at Westward Tilted Street (Xixiejie).

Israel Epstein, a Communist Jew who immigrated to China, was honored and cremated at Babaoshan in 2005.

In January 2010, eight individuals (four UN peacekeepers and four Chinese delegates) who were killed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake, were also laid to rest at Babaoshan as martyrs.