Relics of Japanese Wartime Mining Exploitation in China

Relics of Japanese Wartime Mining Exploitation in China

The relics of Japanese wartime mining exploitation are a protected cultural heritage site of Zhejiang Province.

The relics of Japanese wartime mining exploitation are located in Qiaodao Town, Wuyi County, dating back to the Republican era and the People’s Republic of China.

Wuyi is world-famous as a “hometown of fluorite,” with abundant high-grade deposits. One of the major aims of Japan’s Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign during its invasion of China was to seize control of Wuyi’s fluorite mines. Shen Qiuying, Party branch secretary of the Wuyi County Cultural Relics Protection Office, stated that Wuyi was among the counties most severely ravaged by Japanese aggression. Yangjia, home to the former Zhejiang Dongfeng Fluorite Company—the largest fluorite mining and processing enterprise in the country—also suffered gravely after Wuyi fell under Japanese occupation.

In 1942, after occupying Wuyi, Japanese forces built a power plant for the Wuyi Mining Office of the Central China Mining Company along the Shuxi River to facilitate fluorite extraction. They forcibly conscripted over 1,700 laborers from Shandong, Jiangsu, and local areas, compelling them to mine in more than ten sites including Yangjia, Xili, and Tangli. Over 400,000 tons of raw fluorite were looted from Wuyi. The Japanese committed atrocities, slaughtering and plundering, leaving behind mountains of corpses. Many miners died in mining accidents or from brutal treatment, with 305 skeletons alone recovered from the Yangjia mining site. Amid the atrocities and resistance, shame and glory coexisted. The anti-Japanese military and civilians, with indomitable spirit, rose in unified defiance, composing a heroic and arduous epic of resistance in the fluorite-rich land.

On January 13, 2017, the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province listed it as part of the seventh batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units.

Qiaodao Town: Located in the northeast of Wuyi County, Qiaodao Town borders Yongkang to the east and connects with Jinhua and Yiwu to the north. The town government is seated in Yangjia, 18 km from the county seat, 23 km from downtown Jinhua, and 18 km from Yongkang County. National Highway 330 runs through the area, and it marks the northern starting point of Provincial Highway 44, making it a key northern town in Wuyi. Covering a total area of 58 square kilometers, the town governs 12 administrative villages, 1 community, and 36 natural villages, with a population of 14,000. The terrain is mainly hilly, featuring a subtropical monsoon climate with distinct seasons. Rich in natural resources, with convenient transport and a unique location, it is originally... More details about Qiaodao Town++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units