Chapter 123 Designing the Monument to the People's Heroes

The Monument to the People's Heroes took seven years from Mao Zedong's groundbreaking on September 30, 1949 to its completion in July 1956. Lin Huiyin did not see the completion of the monument during her lifetime, but the last few years of her life were closely connected with this work. Party and state leaders, architects, engineering experts, sculptors, artists, and historians participated in and presided over this work. Therefore, design ideas have not been unified for a long time. Some people advocate the use of giant sculptures to reflect the image of heroes, some people advocate the construction of European classical "monumental columns" or Egyptian "obelisks", and some people advocate the construction of a "Little Tiananmen Square": below is a large platform, on which a monument is erected, and on the side of the platform Open the door, there are exhibition halls, exhibition rooms and toilets and other facilities inside.

Huiyin and Sicheng were very worried that the harmony of the buildings in front of Tiananmen Square would be destroyed by such a building. Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin collected materials of many monumental buildings in ancient and modern China and abroad, compared and discussed them repeatedly, and drew sketches one after another.Finally, they formed their own satisfactory design scheme. In the summer of 1952, Zheng Zhenduo presided over a meeting and decided to adopt Liang Sicheng's design for the body of the stele, and temporarily reserved the top of the stele; because some people insisted on placing sculptures of heroes on the top of the stele, Liang Sicheng firmly disagreed.

In November 1954, the Beijing Municipal People's Government held a meeting, and Mayor Peng Zhen made a decision to adopt Liang Sicheng's suggestion on the top of the monument to build the "building roof" we see now.At the same time, it was decided to abandon the sculpture on the top of the monument, because the monument is 40 meters high, and the group of sculptures placed on it cannot be seen clearly no matter the distance; and the themes are confused and conflict with each other. When Liang Sicheng was busy with the overall design of the monument, Lin Huiyin was busy with the design of carved patterns such as wreaths and garlands on the base of the monument.

She has repeatedly compared and studied the patterns of flowers and plants in various regions of the world, and has drawn hundreds of patterns of flowers, sometimes it is a flower, sometimes it is a leaf, and there are sketches drawn in a hurry when inspiration comes, just like A phrase, a few notes. Beside the pillow, the head of the bed, in front of the desk, and beside the sofa, there are stacks of drawings everywhere. Lin Huiyin was so picky about her work that even Liang Sicheng, who was known for being serious, couldn't bear it. Liang Sicheng picked up a large pile of drawings that Lin Huiyin had discarded aside and looked at them. Those delicate and dignified patterns, or exquisite and gorgeous patterns attracted him.

Huiyin's clever sketches are like those clever poems in her pen, which makes Sicheng love it.He knew that Huiyin was impatient, and one day she thought these drawings were in the way, and she would let the maid burn them. Sicheng decided that these drawings were valuable, so he found a cardboard box, picked some from Huiyin's abandoned pile of drawings, put them in the box and kept them. These sketches were later destroyed in the catastrophe of the "Cultural Revolution". Among the hundreds of patterns, Huiyin and Sicheng finally chose the wreath pattern with olive branches as the main body, as well as flower patterns composed of peony, lotus and chrysanthemum to symbolize the noble, pure and tenacious character of revolutionary martyrs Spirit.

These patterns were later engraved on the pedestal of the Monument to the People's Heroes.It was a group of gorgeous and vigorous, light and unrestrained artistic notes, engraved on the four sides of the huge stele, composing a vigorous movement in memory of the people's heroes. In the summer of 1952, Lin Huiyin was busy preparing gifts for the representatives of the Asia-Pacific peace conference to be held in Beijing, and she felt unwell.