| Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery | |||||||||||
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 Main entrance | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 八寶山革命公墓 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 八宝山革命公墓 | ||||||||||
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TheBabaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery (Chinese:八宝山革命公墓) isBeijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high-rankingparty and state leaders and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In Chinese,Babaoshan literally means "The Eight-Treasure Mountains". The cemetery is located inBabaoshan Subdistrict,Shijingshan District, in western BeijingMunicipality.
The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, with an area of 0.10 square kilometres and located in the western frontiers of Beijing's massiveurban sprawl, was first built as a temple in honor of GeneralGang Bing, aMing dynasty soldier who castrated himself as an act of obedience for theYongle Emperor. The emperor designated the area surrounding the temple as the final resting place of concubines and eunuchs. Over time, theTaoist temple became a senior's home for retired eunuchs. 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.[citation needed]
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 forPuyi. After the establishment ofRepublic of China, Xin Xiuming left theForbidden 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 theTaoist temple. Under Abbot Xin's management, theTaoist 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 ofBeijing, 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 aTaoist temple for eunuchs at Colored Glazed River (Liulihe), and the rest were located to anotherTaoist temple for eunuchs at Westward Tilted Street (Xixiejie).[citation needed]
In the 1950s, the cemetery was established as a burial place for those deemed the political and military martyrs of China.[1]: 118
The ashes of theXuantong Emperor were interred at the cemetery in 1967 upon his death. They were later moved to the Hualong Imperial Cemetery, near theWestern Qing tombs, in 1995.[2] The remains of his brotherPrince Pujie still rest at Babaoshan Cemetery.[citation needed]
Israel Epstein, a Pole who immigrated to China, was honored and cremated at Babaoshan in 2005.[3][4]
In January 2010, eight individuals (four UN peacekeepers and four Chinese delegates) who were killed in the2010 Haiti earthquake were also laid to rest at Babaoshan as martyrs.[5]
On 5 December 2022, formerGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party andleader of China'sthird generation from 1989 to 2002Jiang Zemin was cremated at the crematorium in preparation for hisstate funeral.[6]
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