Former Site of the Japanese Kwantung Army Garrison Headquarters

Former Site of the Japanese Kwantung Military Police Command Headquarters

The former site of the Japanese Kwantung Military Police Command Headquarters is a cultural relic protection unit of Jilin Province.

The former site of the Japanese Kwantung Army Headquarters is located northwest of the intersection of Renmin Avenue and Xinfalu in Changchun City. Construction began in 1932 and was completed in August 1934. The building covers a land area of 340,000 square meters, with the main structure spanning 15,000 square meters. It features a reinforced concrete frame structure, with the main building consisting of four floors above ground and one underground.

The Japanese Kwantung Army blatantly planned and launched the “September 18th Incident,” militarily occupying the Northeastern region of China. By the end of 1931, the Kwantung Army, in collusion with the South Manchuria Railway Company, established the Kwantung Army Government Department (later known as the Special Service Department), accelerating the planning of a colonial puppet regime and becoming the de facto rulers of Manchukuo. The Kwantung Army brutally suppressed the patriotic anti-Japanese activities of the people in the Northeast, aggressively looted the region’s resources, and instigated aggressive wars against the Soviet Union and Southeast Asia, committing heinous crimes.

During the era of Manchukuo, Japan appointed seven successive commanders of the Kwantung Army. The Kwantung Army commander also served as the Japanese ambassador to Manchukuo and led other administrative bodies at all levels. To control Puyi, the Kwantung Army headquarters placed a Japanese military officer known as the “Emperor’s Liaison Officer” by Puyi’s side, tasked with monitoring and controlling all his words and actions. This clearly shows that the Kwantung Army headquarters was indeed the emperor of Manchukuo—the highest authority through which Japanese imperialism controlled the puppet state and the command center for suppressing the Chinese people.

It is said that the Kwantung Army headquarters employed the most advanced technology of the time in its architectural structure and internal facilities. Its exterior was designed to mimic the walls of Nagoya Castle in Japan, featuring a central tower and two flanking towers. Expensive materials such as non-ferrous metals, natural marble, and white cement were used extensively, with the towers and parapets covered in bronze tiles.

After the completion of the building, the Kwantung Army headquarters secretly constructed underground passages between several main structures—primarily for air raid shelters and for use in street fighting. All construction was carried out by Kwantung Army engineers, without any civilian labor, including Japanese workers. The excavated soil was entirely loaded into ammunition boxes and transported by military trucks at night to the construction site of Jingyuetan Lake, where it was used as fill material for embankments. This secret was even concealed from the Soviet Army headquarters, which had been stationed there for six months after 1945.

In 1932, the Kwantung Army headquarters moved from Shenyang to Changchun, initially residing in buildings such as the “Manchuria Railway’s Changchun Local Office Building,” the “South Manchuria Railway Guard Unit,” the “Japanese Consulate General in Changchun” (now within the compound of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), and the “Hotel New Grand.” In 1933, it moved into the building of the Japanese Kwantung Bureau, and in 1934, it relocated to the new building, where the Japanese Embassy to Manchukuo was also housed.

On August 19, 1945, the Japanese Kwantung Army General Headquarters surrendered to the Soviet Red Army entering Changchun. On August 22, following Soviet orders, it vacated the premises and removed the chrysanthemum emblem (the symbol representing Japanese overseas institutions) from the towers. The Soviet Army’s Northeastern Command Headquarters then occupied the building. In 1946, it became the headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Army’s New 1st Army and later the New 7th Army. After the liberation of Changchun in 1948, the former site was used by the 9th Aviation School of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. From 1955 onward, it was used by the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It is now a provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Source: Changchun Municipal Tourism Bureau