广州解放纪念碑, Historical monument in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, China

The Guangzhou Liberation Monument is a granite sculpture standing in the middle of Haizhu Square, not in Yuexiu Park. It rises 11.5 metres above a square base 3.6 metres high with 4.3-metre sides. On the base stands a smiling soldier holding a rifle in his right hand and flowers in his left, gazing forward. Ye Jianying's inscription on the front reads "14 October 1949, Commemorating the Liberation of Guangzhou", and each corner of the base bears the seal "All power belongs to the people".

A first statue by Yin Jichang was inaugurated on 14 October 1959, the tenth anniversary of the PLA's entry into Guangzhou, after mayor Zhu Guang proposed it and Ye Jianying broke ground. Destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, it was rebuilt from a design chosen among 108 entries by Pan He and Liang Mingcheng, begun on 16 November 1978 and unveiled by Xi Zhongxun in July 1980.

The base bears Ye Jianying's inscription of the date 14 October 1949 and four seals reading "All power belongs to the people". The statue stood in Haizhu Square when the spot was named one of the Eight Sights of Yangcheng in 1962 as "Zhu Hai Dan Xin". In 2011 Hong Kong actor Kenny Bee visited, as netizens found the stone soldier resembled him.

The statue stands in the middle of Haizhu Square, not in Yuexiu Park, so approach it from the square's pedestrian areas. The surrounding roads were restored after Metro Line 6 construction; the square is served by public transport. The base platform was partly dismantled in 2006 for the metro works, so the present setting reflects that reconstruction.

The statue's face is said to resemble Hong Kong actor Kenny Bee (Zhong Zhentao), who visited Haizhu Square on 18 June 2011 to see it after many internet users pointed out the likeness. The original 1959 granite figure by Yin Jichang was recreated by him in 1996 for Guangzhou Sculpture Park.