Former Site of the Jiangsu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Prison

Former Site of the Jiangsu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Prison

The former site of the Judicial Precinct Street Detention Center is located at No. 3, Xishanchang Lane, Judicial Precinct Street, Suzhou City. Before 1911, it housed the Jiangsu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Prison and the Suzhou Prefecture Prison. In 1927, it was renamed the Detention Center of the Jiangsu High Court. In May 1936, influenced by the Chinese Communist Party-led policy of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the National Salvation Federation of all walks of life was established in Shanghai. On November 22, seven leaders of the federation—Shen Junru, Li Gongpu, Wang Zaoshi, Sha Qianli, Zou Taofen, Zhang Naiqi, and Shi Liang—were illegally arrested by the Kuomintang authorities in Shanghai, an incident known as the "Seven Gentlemen Incident." On December 4, six of them, including Shen Junru, were transferred and detained in Suzhou. On December 30, Shi Liang turned herself in to the authorities in Suzhou and was imprisoned in the women’s section of the Judicial Precinct Street Detention Center.

Progressive individuals both in China and abroad, including Soong Ching-ling, visited Shi Liang in Suzhou and launched the "Save the Nation by Joining Prison" movement to protest the illegal arrest of the Seven Gentlemen. The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued a statement condemning the reactionary policies of the Kuomintang authorities. After an unwavering struggle, on July 31, 1937, the Seven Gentlemen were released on bail. The cell where Shi Liang was held after liberation became known as the Seven Gentlemen Cell.

In 1941, during the large-scale “pacification” operations conducted by Japanese forces and the puppet Wang Jingwei regime in the Suzhou-Changshu-Taicang region, over 200 members of the Chinese Communist Party and patriotic individuals were arrested and detained here. Communists secretly established a temporary Party branch in prison, published the journal Labor Frontline, and promoted resistance against Japan and national salvation. In February 1946, the Kuomintang authorities in Nanjing transferred major collaborators Chen Gongbo, Chu Minyi, and Chen Bijing to Suzhou and detained them here. They were also tried publicly in Suzhou, sentenced, and executed.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the former site of the Jiangsu Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Prison successively served as the location of the Southern Jiangsu Suzhou Prison and the Suzhou Prison. In 1955, the detention cells were taken over by the city public security bureau’s detention center. In 1977 and 1984, the facility underwent two expansions and renovations, with the total area exceeding 2,000 square meters. In October 1997, the detention center was relocated. After renovation, part of the former cross-shaped detention block now houses the Suzhou Police Museum and the Suzhou Narcotics Control Exhibition Hall.