Basra Tanooma Chinese Memorial
The Basra Tanooma Chinese Memorial commemorates Chinese personnel who died while serving with labour and service units supporting the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. Their work underpinned port, river, rail, and depot operations vital to the campaign.
Quick Information
Location
Tanooma (Tanuma), opposite Basra across the Shatt al-Arab
Commemorated
227 commemorated
WWI: 227 • WWII: 0
Chinese Labour Corps casualties commemorated on memorial panels rather than individual headstones
Status
Last Updated
25 October 2025
Located at Tanooma (Tanuma), opposite Basra across the Shatt al-Arab, near the riverside logistics zone used by the British during WWI. The memorial takes the form of commemorative panels rather than regular rows of headstones, preserving the names where individual graves were lost to floods, redevelopment, or environmental decay. This cemetery was lost almost immediately after WW1 with the rapid expansion of the docks. The Tanooma panel was removed by the British Army from Basra War Cemetery in 2003 along with the other Basra memorial panels, and was destroyed in 2005. Read more about the destruction of the Basra War Cemetery panels.
**Photo Credit:** IWM photo Q20602. "Scene in the Inland Water Transport Dockyard, showing native Mahalas and Bellums. Basrah, Mesopotamia, August 1918."
Current Condition
No known pictures are publicly available for either the original cemetery or the panel placed in Basra War Cemetery. The location of the original cemetery in Tannumah City (as it is now known) is not known and most likely built over as early as 1929 (see above CWGC minutes). A commemorative panel was later added to the screen wall at Basra War Cemetery, but this is now missing along with all other panels. What happened to the panels, their date of removal and by whom is not known.
Visual Documentation
Admin upload portal for panoramas, videos and photos.
Commemorative plaque: "And in company with all these are remembered 227 men of the Chinese Labour Corps who are known to have been buried in Tanooma Chinese Cemetery but whose graves are now lost."
Planning a visit: quick answers
- Can you visit Commonwealth war cemeteries in Iraq?
- Yes. Basra War Cemetery, the Basra Memorial to the Missing, Amara War Cemetery and Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery can all be visited, but access varies by site and usually needs advance arrangement, a local guide and, in some cases, permission from the authorities.
- Do I need a visa or permits to visit?
- Most visitors now travel on a visa on arrival or an e-visa, and some sites sit inside restricted or military-controlled areas where a separate permit or escort is required.
- Are the cemeteries maintained?
- Condition varies considerably. Some sites are cared for by local gardeners, while others remain damaged or overgrown, as documented in our field reporting.