This is a piece of Gz history and the place is well maintained and looks nice. Though, not exactly a place to spend a lot of time, as there isn't much to see as such. Well, to each his own.... A box checked, nonetheless.

SWMBO is very superstitious and when I suggested a visit to the 72 Martyrs Cemetery she wasn’t enthusiastic, to say the least. Never the less, she agreed to accompany this intrepid traveler to the entrance and then I was on my own. It was to be my own fault if the martyrs emerged and dragged me down into the bowls of the earth! I suggested we go to HuangHuaGang metro station on line 6. A bit fiddly for us, involving a bus ride to FieXiang park and then two changes on the metro. SWMBO suggested we take the #223 bus (fare 2 Yuan) from the end of the road and it would take us directly to the HuangHuaGang stop and it is much nearer (50 metres) than the metro station (250 metres); an important consideration as it was another baking hot July day. With my trusty Pentax charged, and SWMBO’s bag bulging with the essentials such as umbrellas, tea, nibbles etc. we ventured forth. Sure enough the #233 bus dropped us off at HuangHuaGang and we walked the 50 metres to the main entrance. Be aware there are various entrances. No ID required or entrance fee demanded. Then I was on my own, SWMBO said she’d partake of a little retail therapy and, if I was still in this world, in an hour or so give her a call. I took a couple of photos of the entrance and then a very nice chap waved his mobile phone at me and pointed at his friends. No problem! A photo of me with them, I’d be honoured! No, would I take a photo with his phone of him and his friends! With the Pentax slung around my neck he must have reckoned I could take a photo. He unfurled a very nice Chinese flag and they all gathered behind it. I put a few photos on his mobile and he was very happy that all of them were there, in focus and with heads and feet. There’s an introduction in English on the left just inside the main gate. Well worth a read. There are also plenty of signs in English directing you ‘sites’ around the cemetery, and some of the ‘sites’ have a small information board with English. All the memorials and graves have headstones and plaques with plenty of Chinese characters but they’ll be from the 1920’s and therefore in the ‘old’ script which many Chinese cannot fully decipher. I didn’t head straight up the path to the visit the 72 martyrs but headed first to Relief Wall of Revolution, along a winding path and past a very nice pond. Then it was into the Tomb Area of the Martyrs, these are not the 72 but other who by their deeds and actions in the 1911 Revolution were deemed worthy of a place and there are dozens of them! They’re all well-kept and everywhere, as you’d expect, is neat and tidy. I worked my way across the Silent Pond and approached the place where the bodies of the 72 martyrs are buried. As with most graves in China they occupants are covered by a thick layer of concrete. To the right is the grave of the Pan DaWei who buried them. I had a good look at the arch topped with a copy of the Statue of Liberty. Under the statue are 72 plaques with details of who provided money to establish the cemetery. Mostly American and Canadian Chinese but I did spot the one from Liverpool (lower left front). The security guard studied me intently as I craned my neck and squinted against the bright sun to read them. Probably, thought I’d been in the sun too long. At the back of the park I found a tomb to Fan TongHai, a Vietnamese who died in a failed attempt to assassinate the French Governor of GuangZhou in 1924. A tomb behind a gate (locked at 4 o’clock) in a rather desolate, gloomy and isolated part of the cemetery. I suppose he wasn’t supporting the Chinese revolution but gets in for effort. I now headed to the Red Iron Gate exit where SWMBO said, 72 martyrs willing, she’d meet me. Before there I encountered the cemetery cats. I counted 10 but there’s probably more. They were being fed by a very nice old lady from a carrier bag that was packed with all kinds of feline delicacies. The cats all looked fit and healthy. One condescended to let me stroke it before deciding dinner was much more important. Most parks we have these marvelous ladies who look after the cats; feeding them, neutering the females and tending to their injuries and long may they do so. Then it was between the two dragon pillars and past a serried rank of tombs to the Red Iron Gate. Just before the gate there’s a Brief Introduction to the park in English. My walk took me just over an hour but you could spend another hour at least just wandering around enjoying the scent of the evergreen pine trees which symbolize the revolution and the rare peace and quiet. There are plenty of toilets but no refreshments available. Not too many steps and there are always paths around them. I met up with a relieved SWMBO after a lovely window-shop in the mall just along from the Red Iron Gate. We crossed the road by the main entrance and caught the bus home.