It is located in Taohuayin in Huai'an District, about 1 kilometer away from the Former Residence of Zhou Enlai. Surrounded on three sides by waters, with beautiful scenery and magnificent buildings, it is a complex memorial hall quite systematically and completely showing the brilliant life of Zhou Enlai.
In January 6, 1992, this memorial hall was finally finished and open through careful design and construction with the kindness and hardworking of Huai’an people and people throughout the country.
Memorial hall of Zhou Enlai is composed of Memorial Island, spacious river and green land around. Its total area comes up to 350,000 m2, of which 70% is water area. This memorial island is surrounded on three sides by water, on which there are main hall and additional halls; its total area comes up to 3,265 m2. The whole building, adopting the style of buildings domestic and abroad, highlighting its grandness as well as indicating the broad mind of Zhou Enlai, extremely presents remarkable character of this age.
The main part of Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall is situated upon the platform of an echelon-formed lawn, which indicates that Zhou Enlai is the son of all Chinese people and he is standing on the earth of motherland forever. With the height up to 26 meters, the main part of this museum is shaped like a cubic and it has eight angles inside. Such a cubic and octahedron shape indicates that the spirit of Zhou Enlai reaches all places and lands in China; and the finished museum will surely attract and welcome tourists from all around. The four granite columns means that Zhou Enlai once brought forward for four times the great conception of realization of four modernizations in China in 1954, 1962, 1964 and 1975. Such a conception is his goal he strived for forever as well as his political will he left. The sloping four-sides roof supported by columns makes people have a vision of the oxcart shed for irrigating the land on the ancient plain of Changjiang-Huaihe River and think of Zhou Enlai, like an old scalper, serving for people all of his life. At the same time such sloping four-sides roof makes people think of the Daidu Pavilion in the District of Lixiahe River of northern Jiangsu province. In 1910 Zhou Enlai once waited for boat in Daidu Pavilion beside the canal when left home for Northeast China, and went to the north of China by boat.
The main part of this memorial hall is faced with granite, simple and neat colored, but it is grandeur and solemn, standing for his loftiness, broad mind and amiable attitude. All the buildings in this museum is walled by granite and paved by caesious concrete square bricks; only blue and white are applied which indicates that although Zhou Enlai is high ranking he is frugal and clean.
The main hall is characterized by three floors. The up front door is carved with six gold-plated words "Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall", which is inscribed by comrade Deng Xiaoping. Go upstairs from the front door, walking slowly and counting carefully, and there are exact 51steps, in memory of Zhou Enlai holding the founding premier of new People’s Republic of China as from 51 years old.
The lower floor is an exhibition hall; it displays 199 typical pictures and 48 items of that reflect each historical stage of Zhou Enlai; its 5 TV screens exhibit the brilliant life of Zhou Enlai through 8 sections.
The second floor is a hall for people visiting; inside of this hall, seated a white marble statue of Zhou Enlai of sitting posture. The height of this statue is 3.2 meters and the height of the base part of it is 1.5 meter and so far it is the biggest statue of Zhou Enlai of sitting posture in our country. The top of this visiting hall is made into a huge sunshade of light-colored glass; the sunshine can shine directly into this hall and spray on the white statue of sitting posture, and then in natural fusion of the hall and the universe, this hall seems grand and solemn, standing for a kind of spiritual mind forever.
The third floor is a sightseeing stand. Look far away the new appearance of the ancient city while looking nearly around the landscapes of lakes and rivers in the memorial hall. Looking out upon the front main hall from the sightseeing stand, there is a round plane made of marble in the semi-round lawn. The plaza seems like a half moon and the round plane seems like a red sun, which indicates the brilliant deeds of Zhou Enlai.
Facing the south of the main hall from the lake is a visiting station, standing in the same axis with the main hall and auxiliary halls; it is composed of corridor, pavilion and two 16 meters’ sword monuments. The sword monument is solid outside but empty inside, seems intangible but prevails over tangible, which indicates that Zhou Enlai left nothing for himself when he was alive, however his spiritual mind, virtue and deeds as a erecting monument, are living in hundreds of millions of people’s hearts. In the west built a white stone pavilion with four angles named "Huai En Pavilion".
North of the main hall is the auxiliary hall. The auxiliary hall is a two-storey herringbone building, with a shape of bowing to the main hall, which means that Zhou Enlai, with the support of people, living in their life forever. Between the main hall and the auxiliary hall is a square pailou (a kind of construction) of 10 meters high. If looking down from the upper place, the top of the pailou and the auxiliary hall form two Chinese characters "August 1" which means Zhou Enlai lead the "August 1" Nanchang insurgence successfully. The auxiliary hall has two floors: the lower floor is equipped with show room of calligraphy and paintings, souvenirs service department and rest rooms for tourists; the upper floor is the office rooms and research room for information.
Address: Yonghuai Rd., Huai'an District, Huai'an
Post Code: 223200
Tel: 0517-85913032, 85912365
Open Time: 8:00 - 17:30
Transport: No.8, 69 and 10 buses