Zhong'an Steamer Martyrs Memorial Hall

Zhong'an Steamer Martyrs Memorial Hall

The Zhong'an Steamer Martyrs Memorial Hall is a classic red tourism destination.

The Su-Zhe Military Region was established on January 13, 1945, with Su Yu serving as commander and Ye Fei as deputy commander. Some of its troops were composed of local soldiers from central Jiangsu, including those from Taixing. In the autumn of 1945, in order to avoid civil war and strive for peace, the Chinese Communist Party decided to relinquish eight revolutionary bases in Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, and southern Anhui. In late September, officers and soldiers of the Su-Zhe Military Region and cadres from the Su-Zhe-An border base area were ordered to retreat north of the Yangtze River. On October 15, nearly 1,000 personnel — including some officers and soldiers of the Fourth Column of the Su-Zhe Military Region who were taking part in the northward withdrawal, along with cadres and laborers from the southern Jiangsu base area — boarded the steamer "Zhong'an" at Yingsha in Wujin County to cross the river to Taixing. Due to the steamer’s age, leaking from the hull, and being overloaded with people and supplies, it unfortunately sank in the Yangtze River approximately 2 kilometers southwest of Tianxingqiao. Over 800 people lost their lives in the tragedy, including Wei Yiping (former secretary of the Taixing County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party), political department deputy director of the Su-Zhe Public School Wang Shaojie, finance director of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office Li Jianmo, Liyang County magistrate Xu Gonglu, reconnaissance chief of the Fourth Column headquarters Peng An, organization chief of the Fourth Column political department Wu Zhicheng, propaganda section chief Wang Yi, and deputy section chief Situ Yang.