Luminaries in Hubei during a Century: A Brief Introduction

In ancient times, Hubei was home to a constellation of talents. As the saying goes, ‘all talents are concentrated in Chu (ancient name of Hubei)’. Since modern times, more luminaries have left their marks in Hubei. Among them, there are national leaders, revolutionaries, generals, scientists, scholars, and artists, who made indelible contributions in various fields to the country and the nation and are worth remembering and honoring. This exhibition, featuring a selection of more than a hundred eminent figures, such as Dong Biwu, Li Xiannian, Peng Chufan, Xiong Bingkun, Shi Yang, Chen Tanqiu, Yun Daiying, Lin Yunan, Xiang Ying, Xu Haidong, Wang Shusheng, Li Siguang, Zhu Guangya, Wen Yiduo and Tan Xinpei, whose photos are accompanied by relics, outlines their biographies and achievements.

Dong Biwu was one of the founders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This is the first set of RMB designs, which was in his collection. Its value as a cultural relic has been enhanced by the fact that the name of the issuing bank was inscribed by Dong.

Xiong Bingkun, ‘the man who fired the first shot of Wuchang Uprising’, gave an account of the actions of the Eighth Engineering Battalion, in which he was serving, during that uprising in Revolutionary Actions of the Eighth Engineering Battalion of the Former Qing Dynasty.

Chen Tanqiu was one of the delegates to the first National Congress of the CPC. This letter, which he wrote to his elder brother, is rated as a Grade-1 relic. In it, Chen wrote about his children, whom he had to entrust to someone else because of the vagrant life he led as a revolutionary.

Xu Haidong was called ‘a man who has done a great service to the Chinese revolution’ by Mao Zedong. He was a valiant soldier who faced death unflinchingly. When leading his troops in their fight against Japanese in Huainan, he fell so ill that at one point he had to command from his camp bed.

Huang Xuhua, ‘father of Chinese nuclear submarines’ and his medals.

Hu Feng was a famous poet and literary theorist. In 1954 he wrote a 300,000-character essay that made great impact on his life and the literary circles.