The National Hotel

The National Hotel

The National Hotel is a protected cultural heritage site of Tianjin.

The National Hotel

Era: 1923

Address: No. 58 Chifeng Road, Heping District, Tianjin

Category: Important Modern Historical Site and Representative Building

The National Hotel was built in 1923 with funding from Li Zhengqing, a comprador of the American American-Foreign Trading Company, and designed by the Swiss Lorry Engineering Office. It served as a high-end hotel operating in the food and lodging industry and was also a gathering place for members of the upper class at the time. The underground organization of the Chinese Communist Party also used the hotel as a cover to carry out revolutionary activities. On February 9, 1926, 58 delegates attending the Third National Congress of the All-China Railway Workers' Union held a meeting on the second floor of the hotel. The congress passed 28 draft resolutions including the “Report Resolution of the All-China Railway Workers' Union.” On November 9, 1934, Ji Hongchang, an anti-Japanese patriotic general, was stabbed and arrested by Kuomintang agents while meeting with a representative of Li Zongren in Room 45 of the hotel. He was later executed in Beiping. Between 1936 and 1937, the secret headquarters and liaison station of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the CCP, known as the “Knowledge Bookstore,” was also located here. Wu Yannong, Ye Duzhuang, Lin Feng, and others engaged in revolutionary work there.

The building faces south with a self-contained courtyard, bordered by Heping Road to the east, Chifeng Road to the south, Liaoning Road to the west, and Harbin Road to the north. It covers an area of 5,188.6 square meters with a construction area of 6,675.7 square meters. It is a three-story brick-and-wood Western-style structure in good condition.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Protected Cultural Heritage Sites of Tianjin