Original title: the completion of the repair project of the Navy Tomb of the British Beiyang Navy arouses public memory
On June 16, according to the website of the State Administration of cultural relics, on June 14 local time, the completion ceremony of the repair project of the Navy cemetery of the Beiyang Navy in Newcastle was held in St. John's cemetery. The construction acceptance unit, Beijing Construction Engineering International UK company, reported the acceptance of the repair project and submitted the completion report to the representative of the Chinese Embassy in the UK. Weihai City, Fuzhou City and other relevant departments presented wreaths to the cemetery.
The five tombstones have been renovated, in sharp contrast to the surrounding weedy, dilapidated tombstones.
In the 1880s, the Qing government sent officers and soldiers of the Beiyang navy to the Armstrong shipyard in Newcastle, England to receive four cruisers, namely Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong and Yangwei. The five sailors yuan Peifu, Gu Shizhong, Chen Shoufu, Chen Chengkui and Lian Jinyuan who participated in the ship receiving mission died of illness and were buried in St. John's cemetery in Newcastle.
The project is the first overseas public offering project of China Heritage Conservation Foundation, which was officially launched in Beijing on November 30, 2016. China Heritage Conservation Foundation fully mobilized social forces to participate in and pay attention to the project, publicly raised funds from the public, and organized repairs to arouse the public's memory of that period of history.
On June 20, 2017, the repair work officially began and the construction was completed on December 21, 2018.
The State Administration of cultural relics entrusted the China foundation for the protection of cultural relics to be responsible for the repair work. According to the principle of "repairing the old as the old", the tombstone and tomb pool were renovated.
Ma Hui, Minister of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, said at the completion ceremony that Chinese students and overseas Chinese in the UK actively called for the salvage repair of the sailors' tomb, give due dignity to those who died for the country and help the Chinese people remember history.
"This is a successful practice of the Chinese government, enterprises, non-governmental organizations and Chinese people at home and abroad working together to protect China's overseas cultural relics." Ma Hui said, "the Chinese people remember this tragic and bitter history in order not to forget national humiliation, make great efforts to rule the country and realize national rejuvenation, so as to make greater contributions to world peace, stability and prosperity."
Teresa & middot, councillor of Newcastle; Karness said that he hoped that more British people would understand the stories of these Chinese sailors and that more records about them would be discovered.
Qi Yongqiang, President of the Northern British Chinese Entrepreneurs Association, who is responsible for the recording and supervision of the project, said that after the news that the formal repair began in June 2017 was reported by the media, Chinese people continued to visit the cemetery, and photos of Chinese warships were placed in front of the tomb to comfort the heroes of these sailors.