Inscription and Epitaph for Martyr Xie Zichang

(August 23, 1939)

A national hero, though dead, yet lives on.

The tomb of Comrade Xie Zichang, a national hero.

Xie Zichang, given name Deyuan, a native of Anding, joined the Communist Party in Beiping in 1925. From then on, he took communism as the path to liberate the Chinese people, founded peasant movement training classes, organized peasant associations, and led the people in participating in the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord movements, for which the people called him "Xie the Blue Sky." After the defeat of the Great Revolution in 1927, Zichang rose in revolt at Qingjian, and subsequently took part in the Weinan Uprising. Undaunted by defeat, he traveled across various parts of the Northwest and North China. After the September 18th Incident, he organized the Anti-Imperialist Allied Army between Shaanxi and Gansu, which was later reorganized into the Shaanxi-Gansu Guerrilla Detachment of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the predecessor of the Twenty-Sixth Red Army. In 1933, he went to Chahar to join the Anti-Japanese Allied Army. After its failure, he returned to northern Shaanxi to organize the Twenty-Seventh Army, and together with Comrade Liu Zhidan and others, built the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. In 1934, he was wounded in the Battle of Hekou, and in the spring of 1935, he died of his wounds. People from all walks of life in the Party, government, army, and civilian circles, moved by Zichang's merits and virtues, renamed Anding County as Zichang County to commemorate him. This is written to record the events when the government and the people erect a tomb for Zichang.

Mao Zedong

The ninth day of the seventh month in the twenty-eighth year of the Republic of China

[1] Xie Zichang (1897–1935), a native of Zaoshuiping, Anding County (now Zichang County), Shaanxi Province. A founder of the Northern Shaanxi Red Army and Soviet Area, and an outstanding commander of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. On February 21, 1935, Xie Zichang passed away due to severe wounds at the age of 38.

Inscription by Mao Zedong for Martyr Xie Zichang.