"Thousands of miles of warblers chirping green and red, water village mountains and rivers wine flag the wind. In the Southern Dynasty, there are 480 temples, how many towers are in the misty rain." This is a poem "Spring in Jiangnan" by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. With gorgeous and delicate brushstrokes, it describes the once prosperous and beautiful Yuhuatai in the south of Jiankang (now Nanjing), the capital of Jiangnan, during the Southern Dynasties. It is a poetic and picturesque meaning.

There are written records that in the early years of Nanliang, Buddhism was prevalent. The eminent monk Master Yun Guang once set up an altar here. Because the content was so wonderful, he moved the Buddha. In an instant, flowers fell from the sky like rain and turned into gorgeous stones everywhere, hence the name "Yuhuatai".

Now you can see the Yuhua Pavilion restored in 1997 on the Meigang of Yuhuatai Scenic Area. It is located on the former site of the ancient Yuhuatai.

Yuhuatai, full of poetry, has also become a battleground for military strategists of past dynasties because it is a commanding height in the southern part of Nanjing. Mei Yi, prefect of Yuzhang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, once resisted foreign invasions here, and Yue Fei, a famous anti-Jin general, defeated the Jin soldiers here. Later, the Tianjing Defense War of the Taiping Rebellion, the crusade against the Qing soldiers in the Revolution of 1911, and the "Capital Defense War" in the Anti-Japanese War all set off fires here, causing Yuhuatai to gradually become desolate.

During the Revolutionary Civil War, from Chiang Kai-shek's "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup in 1927 to the eve of the founding of New China in 1949, Yuhuatai became an execution ground for the Kuomintang to massacre Chinese Communists and patriots. In twenty-two years, nearly 100,000 Communist Party members and progressives have been massacred here. In 1950, in order to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs, the people of Nanjing built a 1.14-square-kilometer Yuhuatai Martyrs Cemetery here.

North along the central axis, this granite Loyalty Pavilion in the south gate of Yuhuatai is built on the top of a slope at an altitude of 43 meters. It is 5.8 meters long and 8.3 meters high. It was built by special party dues paid by 300,000 Communist Party members of Nanjing City.

On the top of the slope opposite the Loyalty Pavilion is the Yuhuatai Martyrs Memorial Hall with a construction area of 5900 square meters. The Martyrs Memorial Hall displays the life stories of Yuhuatai revolutionary martyrs in various periods.

Between the Loyalty Pavilion and the Martyrs Memorial Hall is Loyalty Square, covering an area of about 3000 square meters. The ground paved with diamond gravel is thick and tough, highlighting the deep and spectacular atmosphere of the Loyalty Pavilion. The embossed "Ode to Loyalty" organized and created by the Jiangsu Province Art Museum stands on the east and west sides of the square.

After visiting the Martyrs Memorial Hall, I continued to head north and walked past the Memorial Bridge. It was the reflection pool of the Zhaobi. The "Internationale" and "National Anthem" were located at the north and south ends of the reflection pool. The granite texture was made of Han, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang respectively. Engraved in five kinds of characters. Looking up from the steps ahead, you can see the Yuhuatai Martyrs Monument and Memorial Stele Corridor.

The Martyrs 'Monument was built on the commanding height of Yuhuatai at an altitude of 60 meters. The monument is 42.3 meters high, implying the liberation of Nanjing on April 23, 1949. In front of the monument, there is a bronze statue of a revolutionary with a height of more than 5 meters with the theme of "Rather die than surrender". Since the monument and stele corridor are being enclosed and maintained, they cannot be entered. I borrow a photo of a netizen here.

The martyrs 'carvings leaning against the Martyrs Monument and facing the north gate of Yuhuatai Scenic Area are the most famous symbol of Yuhuatai Scenic Area. They are 10.03 meters high, 14.2 meters wide and 5.6 meters thick. They are assembled from 179 pieces of granite, vividly recreating the nine martyrs who were brave and unyielding before they died. The glorious image of their bravery and unwavering death. Yuhuatai has three martyred places. This is the martyred place in the north. Most of the martyrs during the ten-year civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party from 1927 to 1937 were concentrated and killed here.

Today's Yuhuatai is China's largest commemorative cemetery, the first batch of national AAAA tourist attractions, national key cultural relics protection units, and national patriotic education demonstration base. In September 2016, Yuhuatai Martyrs Cemetery was selected into the "First Batch of China's 20th Century Architectural Heritage" list.