Sunken Timber Site in the Gorge

Sunken Timber Site in the Gorge

The Sunken Timber Site in the Gorge is a classic red tourism destination.

The Sunken Timber Site in the Gorge is located in Shidagou, about 10 kilometers south of Laoling Village, Shihu Town, Tonghua County, and 20 kilometers from Gongyi Village, where the town government is situated. The site lies within mountain forests, where the bottom of the gorge contains stacks of century-old logs and large quantities of scattered logs along the riverbed stretching six to seven kilometers. These logs are three to four meters long and have diameters exceeding 50 centimeters, with some even surpassing 100 centimeters. Most of the logs have now nearly rotted or are completely decayed, though some pine logs remain relatively well-preserved. It was formed when the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces mobilized lumber workers to push logs intended for the construction of the Japanese puppet "Tongji" Railway into the gorge.

In early 1938, Yang Jingyu led the headquarters and directly affiliated forces of the First Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces—comprising more than 500 troops—back to the Ji'an region from Liaoning Province. They targeted the railway under construction by the Japanese puppet authorities between Tonghua and Ji'an as a key strike objective, launching a series of sabotage operations. The Tongji Railway was an extension of the Meihekou–Tonghua Railway, constructed by the East Asia Civil Engineering Corporation and started in March 1937. On March 13, 1938, Yang Jingyu led his troops in a surprise attack on the construction site of the Laoling Tunnel on the Tongji Railway, achieving resounding success that shook the entire East Manchuria region and greatly boosted the morale of our anti-Japanese military and civilians. The "Sunken Timber in the Gorge" site within Shidagou, Shihu Town, Tonghua County, is an example of such sabotage operations, created when the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces mobilized lumber workers to push construction logs into the gorge. These sunken timbers were originally meant for the Laoling Tunnel project on the "Tongji" Railway in 1938. Under the command of Yang Jingyu during the sabotage operation by the First Route Army, a “lumber boss” led numerous lumber workers in pushing the logs down into the valley. The logs sunken that year thwarted the Japanese plan to transport them for railway construction, while also preserving the local forest vegetation.

Since its discovery, no funding has been allocated for restoration, and the site remains largely in its original state. (Provided by the Party School of the Tonghua County Committee of the CPC)

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