On May 5, 1983, although it was raining lightly in the sky, at 9 a.m., more than 300 people braved the rain to rush to Fuxing Park. On the back side of the park's large lawn, a granite foundation stone stands with the inscription:
"On May 5, 1983, the foundation stone was laid for the statue of Karl Marx Friedrich Engels
Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China
Shanghai Municipal People's Government"
This day marks the 165th anniversary of Marx's birth. In honor of Marx and Engels, on the lawn surrounded by plane trees in the park, a statue of the two great figures will be made.
Two years later, on August 5, 1985, on the ninetieth anniversary of Engels's death, it was still on this lawn that in the majestic "Internationale", the unveiling ceremony of the marx and Engels memorial statues was held - this is also the first large-scale commemorative statue of Marx and Engels in China.
Why did you give this "first" honor to Shanghai? Given to Renaissance Park?
Take a walk around Fuxing Park and you might be able to see what the neighborhood on which the park is located means for Shanghai.
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The Mahne Memorial statue is set in Fuxing Park because Fuxing Park is adjacent to red landmarks such as the "Big One" site, Yuyangli, Zhou Mansion, and Sun Yat-sen's Former Residence. The 88,900-square-meter park connects Chongqing South Road in the east, Fuxing Middle Road in the south, Sinan Road in the west, and the Science Hall in the north.
The large lawn on which the Marne Memorial Statue is located is about 6600 square meters, and the proportion of the spatial environment, garden style and monument scale is relatively harmonious, both open and concentrated, and the original fountain flower beds and patterned layouts in the south form a relationship between the main and auxiliary axes, and are coordinated and unified. The monument faces due south and is the best way to light.
Marx in the sculpture has a dignified demeanor, his right hand caressing the stone pillar, and he is staring forward with great energy. Engels on Marx's left side is solemn. These two great men looked into the distance, as if looking to the future.
In order to make this important sculpture work, the Shanghai Oil Sculpture Creation Studio invited 11 stone carving workers from the Beijing Architectural Art Sculpture Factory, which had participated in the stone carving project of the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square. In order to grasp the stone carvings, they did not live in a hotel with favorable conditions, but slept in a very simple grass hut next to the memorial statue. In the final stage of the stone carving, 11 of them worked three shifts and worked day and night.
Media reports at the time: "This 6.4-meter-high monument with a weight of more than 70 tons was designed by sculptor Zhang Yonghao. The commemorative statue adopts the artistic technique of upper and lower virtual, and creates the full body portraits of the two revolutionary teachers, in order to show the combination of the characters' thoughts, strength and revolutionary friendship. Surrounded by green grass, flowers and evergreen trees, the memorial statue is both solemn and lively, full of vitality. ”
Zhang Yonghao, born in 1933, is the first generation of sculptors in New China, and he has changed his manuscript three times to design the monument to Man. His design, titled "Scheme Six", stood out among the 49 conscripted designs and was selected as the final proposal for the Shanghai ManNe Memorial. The commemorative statue adopts the artistic technique of upper and lower virtual. Zhang Yonghao once introduced that in terms of the overall conception, it is like a monument. The blur of the following section reflects the communist beliefs of the two mentors and the rock-solid friendship between them. At the same time, the partial blurring can direct the eyes of the admirers to the appearance of the two teachers, and achieve the harmonious unity of the solemnity and intimacy of the entire memorial statue. In 1987, the Monument to Marne won the National Award for Excellence in Urban Sculpture.
Following the statue of Marne, Zhang Yonghao stood out in 1992 in a draft for the Shanghai sculpture professional creation unit, and the portrait of Mayor Chen Yi he created won the excellent plan and implemented the construction. Today, this statue of Mayor Chen Yi is located on the Bund and is built in a place affectionately known as "Chen Yi Square".
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Since 1985, the Mahne Monument has become a new landmark in Shanghai. At that time, some foreign dignitaries would pay special flowers when they visited Shanghai.
Standing on this lawn, generations of young people have joined the regiment, recruits have sworn into the army, and party members have lived an organizational life. For generations of Shanghai children, the Man Memorial is also a warm memory of childhood. Every year, witnessed by the sculptures of the two great men, groups of teenagers wear red scarves on this lawn and join the Young Pioneers. Fuxing Park thus became more than just a recreational garden, but had a deeper meaning.
Fuxing Park was originally a French barracks of GuJiazhai, presided over by the French horticulturist Berber, and after designing and repairing the Parc de Las Lyon Goldheads, it was built and opened in June 1909. At that time, foreigners called it "Gujiazhai Park" according to the place name, but Chinese always called it "French Park". Although built on Chinese land, it was subject to the historical environment of the time, and initially this park had obvious colonial traces. At the beginning of the park's opening, the published charter implemented a policy of discrimination against the Chinese, including: strictly prohibiting Chinese from entering the park (but Chinese aunts who take care of foreign children and Chinese servants who serve foreigners can enter the park with their owners), and dogs with masks and masks brought by foreigners are allowed to enter.
Fang Zhimin once recorded this humiliation in the book "Lovely China": "A few poor friends invited me to visit the French park to relax. As soon as I walked to the entrance of the park, I saw a piercing sign with the words "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter the park". When these words shot into my eyes, my whole body suddenly burned hot, and my face burned red. It's a shame I feel I've never felt before! In Shanghai, China, they were asked to build a park, but instead they were forbidden to enter the park, and instead they put the Chinese with dogs. Is such an unreasonable insult to the Chinese people what the people of the so-called 'civilized country' should do? Do the Chinese still have a foothold in this world? Will it survive? I don't think I have the heart to visit the garden at this point, so I pulled up my feet and turned back to my apartment. ”
The writer Cao Juren also refused to enter the French park: "First, I have been wearing a long cloth shirt and cannot afford to 'lose face'; second, our 'anti-imperialist' fanaticism at that time made me reluctant to bow my head." I didn't get into it until the park was open. ”
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Intimidated by the continuous resistance of the Chinese people, until 1928, the original regulations were changed to the method of admission to the park, Chinese could be allowed to enter the French Park on their own land at a price of one yuan.
In 1946, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it was officially renamed Fuxing Park, which contains the meaning of rejuvenating the nation.
A small story is that it was also this year that the park witnessed the prelude to a happy marriage.
In the autumn of 1946, on a sunny day, at a round table in the tea room of Fuxing Park, there were two teams "from restraint to intimacy", namely Mrs. Zhou, Mr. and Mrs. Yao Mushuang, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou Baichun, and Mrs. Wu, Mr. Wu Guangrong, and Miss Wu Guangjin. The reason why everyone gathered is clear at a glance: blind date. On that day, Zhou Baichun was dressed in a suit and leather shoes, dressed in a chuchu, according to the number of etiquette, did not speak a word to Wu Guangjin, and the two sides only nodded slightly. Many years later, the burlesque artist Zhou Baichun recorded in his self-description that after an hour, the two sides politely separated from each other. Soon, the Wu family sent Miss Wu's birthday eight characters, which were shelved on my family stove for three days. For three days, not a single bowl was broken, and no one fell. It is said that this indicates that Miss Wu will live in peace with my family and bring good luck to my family.
In 1949, Fuxing Park also ushered in its own new era.
In Fuxing Park, many large-scale activities have been held, including the Labor Disaster Relief Garden Tour hosted by the Literary and Art Circles Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Labor Federation of All Walks of Life in August 1949, and the 1950 Exhibition held by the Third Field Army garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Shanghai to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai. On March 8, 1951, in order to commemorate International Women's Day, 300,000 women in the city held a parade, and the commander-in-chief issued an order in front of Fuxing Park... One large-scale event after another, integrated into the specific memories of one person after another, with the Revival Park as the background, precipitated as the red background of the city.
Today, from the Manne Memorial, many young students or party members can always be seen, searching for many red resources within one kilometer of the park. The Mahne Memorial statue bears witness to people's youth, and people also witness the future that great men look forward to.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shen Yilun Text Editor: Shen Yilun
Source: Author: Shen Yilun