Former Site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s Early Revolutionary Activities in Shanghai

Former Site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s Early Revolutionary Activities in Shanghai

The former site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s early revolutionary activities in Shanghai is a Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism attraction.

Former Site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s Early Revolutionary Activities in Shanghai

Located at No. 44, Yong’an Li, Lane 1953, North Sichuan Road, it was a secret location where Zhou Enlai conducted early revolutionary activities in Shanghai (the home of Zhou Enlai’s paternal aunt). From 1927 to 1931, Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao, and others often came here and even lived here. In 1931, after Gu Shunzhang, who was then in charge of intelligence and security work within the Party, was arrested and defected, the Party’s central organs suffered severe damage. Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao knocked on the door late at night in the disguise of merchants and eventually relocated from here to the revolutionary base areas. The site is a three-story Shikumen residence that blends Chinese and Western architectural styles.

Experts from the Geographical Cultural Relics Department of the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, the Party History Research Office of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and other departments unanimously agreed that the discovery of this site supplements an important historical account of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s early revolutionary activities in Shanghai, holding significant cultural and historical value. Recently, the People’s Government of Hongkou District designated the “Former Site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s Early Revolutionary Activities in Shanghai” at No. 44, Lane 1593 (Yong’an Li), North Sichuan Road, as a Hongkou District Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Zhou Enlai’s nephew, Zhou Erliu, introduced that when recalling this period, Zhou Enlai once casually described the situation as one of “shared weal and woe, life-and-death solidarity, outward calm and inward vigilance, yet filled with harmony.” Zhou Erliu noted that Yong’an Li on North Sichuan Road was only “activated” in an emergency during the early revolutionary period when the Zhou couple faced extreme danger. Due to the need for confidentiality, it has remained little known until now.

On April 4, 2014, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government reviewed and announced the Former Site of Comrade Zhou Enlai’s Early Revolutionary Activities in Shanghai as a Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit (Shanghai Government Document No. [2014] 29).