Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Workers' Patrol Corps during the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers

Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Workers' Patrol Corps during the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers

The Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Workers' Patrol Corps during the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers is a protected cultural heritage site in Shanghai and a classic red tourism destination.

No. 584 Baoshan Road (formerly the intersection of Baoshan Road and Dongbaoxing Road) was the location of the Oriental Library. From March to April 1927, the Commercial Press Club within the Oriental Library served as the general headquarters of the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers. On December 7, 1977, this site was designated as a municipal-level memorial site by the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee. The original building was destroyed by Japanese invaders during the January 28 Incident in 1932. It is now the site of the Shanghai Shibei Senior Vocational School. On March 21, 1987, the Shanghai Cultural Relics Preservation Committee erected a memorial stele on the school grounds inscribed with “Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Workers' Patrol Corps during the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers.”

On February 23, 1927, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Shanghai District Committee held a joint meeting, where it was decided to prepare for the launch of the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers. This meeting pointed out that the third armed uprising should learn from the lessons of the failures of the previous two uprisings and emphasized the need for strengthened unified leadership and comprehensive guidance by the Communist Party over the workers' armed uprising. To this end, the meeting decided to establish a “Special Committee” as the highest decision-making body.

The central leadership of this committee included Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Peng Shuzhi, a member of the CPC Central Bureau, and Zhou Enlai, Secretary of the Central Military Commission. Local leaders included Luo Yinong, Secretary of the Shanghai District Committee, Zhao Shiyan, Head of the Organization Department, Yin Kuan, Head of the Propaganda Department, He Songlin (Wang Shouhua), Head of the Workers’ Department and Chairman of the Shanghai General Labor Union. The Special Committee played a leading core role in the preparation and organization of the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers. Over the course of a month, it held 31 meetings, convening two to three times a day during particularly intense periods of struggle. Starting March 5, it was mandated that Special Committee members meet daily at 7 a.m. and 12 p.m. to coordinate and discuss work. If some members were unable to attend due to work commitments, the core figures of the Special Committee—“Du, En, Yi, Song,” namely Chen Duxiu, Zhou Enlai, Luo Yinong, and He Songlin—were always present to handle urgent matters.

On March 21, 1927, when the Third Armed Uprising of Shanghai Workers commenced, Zhabei served as the main battleground, witnessing the largest scale and intensity of the uprising. From noon onward, over 100,000 workers took to the streets, gunfire erupted across the city, and street fighting spread throughout the district. In the decisive battle against various enemy strongholds, one such stronghold—the Oriental Library—was garrisoned by a thousand troops. Located between the general headquarters of the uprising and the frontline command post, it posed a serious threat to communication lines. The workers' patrol corps initially struggled to capture it. According to Huang Chengjing (also known as Huang Yifeng), a then-member of the Zhabei District Committee: “Upon receiving this report, Zhou Enlai personally led a group of cadres to the front line to survey the terrain. After inspecting the area, he instructed: ‘This place can be temporarily surrounded without immediate assault. On one hand, political appeals can be made to persuade them to surrender; on the other hand, to ensure the safety of our communication routes, we can mobilize the patrol corps to dig a traffic trench of over a hundred meters along the eastern roadside of the Oriental Library to shield the passage of residents and our forces.’ Not until noon on the 22nd did the enemy, failing to receive reinforcements and attempting to escape through the back door, get completely captured by the armed workers' patrol corps.”

After capturing the Oriental Library, the general headquarters of the armed uprising workers' patrol corps was set up in the Commercial Press Club on the ground floor, and a sign reading “General Headquarters of the Shanghai General Labor Union Workers' Patrol Corps” was hung above the gate. Zhou Enlai directed the overall assault on the North Railway Station from there. After the victory of the uprising, Zhou Enlai temporarily stayed in a room on the fourth floor of the Oriental Library building. He remained there until the day of the April 12 Counterrevolutionary Coup, when he secretly left the Oriental Library.

Oriental Library: Established in 1924 and funded by the Commercial Press, it opened to the public on May 3, 1926. The ground floor of the Oriental Library housed the circulation department and the Commercial Press Club, the second floor had reading rooms, a newspaper room, and offices, the third floor contained rare books, bookbinding rooms, and a storage area for Commercial Press publications, the fourth floor was used for book stacks, and the fifth floor stored magazines, newspapers, and photographs. The majority of the library's collection was transferred from the “Hanfenlou,” totaling 463,083 volumes (as recorded in 1931). It was hailed as the foremost library in the Far East. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the January 28 Incident.