Site where Japanese war criminals were imprisoned, tried, and executed at Tilanqiao Prison

Site where Japanese war criminals were imprisoned, tried, and executed at Tilanqiao Prison

Site where Japanese war criminals were imprisoned, tried, and executed at Tilanqiao Prison is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

Site where Japanese war criminals were imprisoned, tried, and executed at Tilanqiao Prison

Tilanqiao Prison, located at 117 Huade Road, Shanghai (now 147 Changyang Road), is a complex of over 10 buildings covering an area of about 4 hectares with a construction area of 40,000 square meters. It is the oldest prison in China still in use today. Tilanqiao Prison was first built in 1901, opened in May 1903, and after successive expansions and renovations, reached its current scale by 1935, which it has retained to this day. Known for its exquisite architecture and massive scale, Tilanqiao Prison was once hailed as the “Number One Prison in the Far East.” In 2013, its early structures were listed as Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council. Due to occupying prime land, after 110 years since its first prisoner arrived, the prison will be closed. The original site will be preserved and developed.

Tilanqiao Prison has held many notable figures throughout different historical periods. Early Republican revolutionaries such as Zhang Taiyan and Zou Rong, proletarian revolutionaries like Ren Bishi, Wang Jingwei’s wife Chen Bijun, Japanese war criminals such as General Naotsugu Tateishi and General Ryukichi Ando, members of the Shanghai Writing Group during the Cultural Revolution like Zhu Yongjia, Shanghai’s so-called “richest man” Zhou Zhengyi, the “knife-wielding cop killer”… “Tilanqiao” has become synonymous with the prison, but if we broaden our perspective across time and space, the significance of Tilanqiao goes far beyond the prison itself. Just from the names mentioned above, we can glimpse a microcosm of a century of Chinese history. But because it is still in use, we cannot regard Tilanqiao Prison merely as a historical relic.

Starting from December 1945, the Shanghai War Criminals Detention Center located within Tilanqiao Prison began to hold Japanese war criminals successively. Many Japanese war criminals were transferred from abroad and within China via plane, train, ship, and other means. For example, Major General Masao Hibiki, chief of staff of the Japanese 34th Army in China, and more than 10 others, as well as Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army, were brought from Tokyo. Lieutenant General Ryukichi Ando, Governor-General and Commander of Japanese forces in Taiwan, and others were brought from Taiwan, while Lieutenant General Naotsugu Tateishi, commander of the Sixth Area Army of the Japanese invasion forces in China, and others were transported from Hankou. By early 1947, Tilanqiao had held over 180 Japanese war criminals. During their imprisonment, some died in prison — for example, Ryukichi Ando secretly ingested poison hidden in his clothing seam on the night of April 19, 1946, and before that, he had written a letter to General Yasuji Okamura, the overall commander of Japanese forces in China.

The trials of Japanese war criminals within China can be divided into two parts. First, in early 1946, General Albert Coady Wedemeyer, Chief of Staff of the China Theater of the Allies and Commander of U.S. Forces in China, was ordered to establish a U.S. military tribunal in Shanghai, located at Tilanqiao Prison. On the morning of January 24, 1946, the U.S. military tribunal officially opened the trial of 18 Japanese war criminals, with the proceedings broadcast worldwide. After several court sessions, the tribunal delivered its verdict on February 28, sentencing five people including Masao Hibiki to death. Except for one who was acquitted, the rest received sentences ranging from one and a half years to life imprisonment. Aside from this group, multiple trials were also held for 29 other Japanese war criminals afterward.

The U.S. military tribunal conducted eight batches of trials involving 47 Japanese war criminals at Tilanqiao, executing five of them by hanging. The original gallows room remains intact and is now one of the highlights of the Shanghai Prison Museum.

The Nationalist government’s military tribunal tried 116 Japanese war criminals in Shanghai, sentencing 14 to death (one of whom was later resentenced to 10 years). Of these, 11 were executed at the execution ground in Tilanqiao Prison. Additionally, as the Guangzhou military tribunal was disbanded after its trials concluded, three Japanese war criminals were transferred from Guangzhou to Tilanqiao for execution. In total, 19 Japanese war criminals were executed at Tilanqiao, five by hanging and 14 by shooting.

Given Tilanqiao Prison’s significant role in the imprisonment, trial, and execution of Japanese war criminals, in August 1997, it was designated by the municipal government as a Shanghai Anti-Japanese Memorial Site. As an outstanding example of modern architectural complexes, Tilanqiao Prison was listed as a “Municipal Cultural Heritage Conservation Unit” by the Shanghai Municipal Government in 1994, and in 2013, it was designated as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level by the State Council.