Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial

Since its founding in 1998, Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial has played a significant role in education and served as an important base for the commemoration of the couple, understanding of modern history, and relevant literature research.

The memorial, located in the scenic area of Water Park, covers an area of over 7,000 square meters, with a building area of 10,500 m2. The style of the main structure is simple yet solemn. The granite statue, commemoration square, pavilion, woods, lawn and flowers outside blend perfectly with the main structure, forming an elegant environment and solemn atmosphere.

Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao are great proletarian revolutionaries and statesmen, steadfast marxists, and outstanding leaders of the party and the state. They spent their youth in Tianjin, where they met, came to know and fell in love with each other, and then took to the revolutionary road shoulder to shoulder. Regarding Tianjin as their second hometown, the two great figures left wills to have their ashes scattered into the Haihe River in Tianjin. To commemorate their significant contributions and noble character, Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial was founded and opened to the public at the 100th anniversary of Zhou on February 28, 1998, with approval from the municipal government of Tianjin. The collections in the museum are plentiful and valuable.

Now over 10,000 items of cultural relics, documents, photos, and other materials have been collected, more than 100 of which are especially precious, including their cremation casket, Zhou Enlai’s Il-14 aircraft and Jim car, and the correspondence between the couple. The main hall consists of Tribute Hall, Life Hall, and Aircraft Hall, showing the great contributions and noble character of the two great figures. In the Tribute Hall stand the white marble statues of Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao, under the title “Deep Affections for the Mother Land”.

The background of the main statue is a large tapestry entitled “A Broad Sea under Scudding Clouds”. On the walls on the flanks are reliefs of historical events such as the May Fourth Movement, the Nanchang Uprising, the Red Army’s Long March, the Xi’an Incident, the Founding Ceremony of the PRC, and the construction of the motherland. The Life Hall demonstrates different historical periods and themes in nine parts: Great Figures, Pursuit of Truth, Saving China, Prime Minister, Leader of Women’s Movement, Turning the Tide, Passing on the Great Cause, Eternal Glory, Realization of Wishes. Through 463 pictures and over 700 relics and documents, visitors can have a thorough and systematic understanding of Zhou Enlai’s and Deng Yingchao’s glorious life. The “Il-14” Model 678 aircraft in the Aircraft Hall was presented to Premier Zhou Enlai as a gift from the Soviet government in August 1957.

From 1957 to the middle 1960s, Premier Zhou flew all over China and visited many countries in this aircraft. In February 2008, after one year and a half’s hard work, Xihua Hall was restored on a scale of 1:1 in Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial, according to the layout and style of Xihua Hall in Zhongnanhai in the 1960s. Xihua Hall was the place where Zhou and Deng worked and lived after the founding of the PRC. In May 2008, the memorial was ranked as a national first-class museum by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Through half a year’s reconstruction, the basic display of the memorial was reopened to the public in June 2010. With adjusted layout and updated information, the rebuilt memorial gives prominence to the exhibition of cultural relics.

In addition to new items on display, several scenarios of historical restoration are presented. High technology is adopted to increase the amount of information in exhibition. In May 2011, on the ninth contest of national museum exhibition (2009-2010) in Shenyang, the basic display of Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial won the top prize in the field of museum cultural exhibition. From its opening on February 28, 1998 to the end of 2015, the memorial received over 14 million visitors and held or co-organized more than 80 activities to commemorate Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao.