Memorial Hall of the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang

Memorial Hall of the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang

Xinho Township in Tonglu County is a revolutionary base area in Hangzhou. During the Liberation War, it served as the stronghold and a solid logistical base for the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang. Today, there are 12 historical sites related to the detachment, including its uniform factory, repair workshop, newspaper office, field hospital, cadre training class, and logistics department. To inherit and promote the glorious revolutionary traditions, in 1996, the Party Committee and government of Xinho Township established the Jin-Xiao Detachment Exhibition Room in Yafang Village, which was later listed as a patriotic education base in Hangzhou.

The Memorial Hall of the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang is located at the entrance of Shansangwu Natural Village in Xinho Township, Tonglu County. It was rebuilt on a new site based on the original Jin-Xiao Detachment Exhibition Room and was completed in May 2006 at Shansangwu, the former headquarters of the detachment’s logistics base. The memorial hall covers a total area of over 4,000 square meters, with a building area of 650 square meters. The total investment exceeded 1 million yuan, and it receives around 15,000 visitors annually.

In late September 1945, after the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the Eastern Zhejiang Guerrilla Column of the New Fourth Army was ordered to withdraw northward, the comrades who remained behind to continue the struggle established the Western Road People's Salvation Vanguard and the Kuaiji Mountain People's Guerrilla Command in extremely harsh conditions, engaging in head-on confrontations with the reactionary forces of the Kuomintang. On September 15, 1948, the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang was re-established in Shimen Village, Majian Township, Pujiang (now part of Zhuji City).

After its establishment, the Jin-Xiao Detachment made the border area of Pujiang, Zhuji, Tonglu, and Fuyang the center of its guerrilla base. In Siguang Township, Tonglu (now Xinho Township), it successively set up a uniform factory, repair workshop, newspaper office, and field hospital as logistical units. Relying on the guerrilla base, the detachment launched seven external offensives to expand its influence, establishing five county governments—Western Road, Jiangdong, Jiangnan, Northern Road, and Jiangxi—as well as three offices in Jiangbei, Yanqu, and Tianmu. In mid-April 1949, it successfully crushed the siege of the 216th and 203rd Divisions of the Kuomintang against the guerrilla base.

From late April to early May 1949, as the Liberation Army advanced into Zhejiang, the Jin-Xiao Detachment successively liberated six county towns: FenShui, Xindeng, Lin’an, Xiaoshan, Tonglu, and Pujiang. It also assisted the main army in taking over seven other county towns: Wuxing, Fuyang, Jiande, Shouchang, Lanxi, Jinhua, and Yiwu. Additionally, it successfully persuaded the commissioner of the Huzhou Special Administrative Region of the Kuomintang to surrender with his troops. On May 18, the Jin-Xiao Detachment triumphantly joined forces with the southbound cadres in Tonglu. On May 22, it was disbanded as ordered and reorganized, thus gloriously fulfilling its historical mission.

To inherit and promote the glorious revolutionary traditions, in 1996, the Party Committee and government of Xinho Township established the Jin-Xiao Detachment Exhibition Room inside the Yafang Power Station, which was later named a patriotic education base in Hangzhou. As the exhibition room was only about 50 square meters and not suitable for large-scale educational activities, in July 2004, the Tonglu County Committee and government decided to build a new Memorial Hall of the Jin-Xiao Detachment of the People's Liberation Army of Eastern Zhejiang in the old revolutionary base of Xinho Township. Construction began in June 2005 and was completed in May 2006. The memorial hall covers a total area of over 4,000 square meters, with a main three-story building spanning 650 square meters. Supporting structures include the Jin-Xiao Detachment Memorial Pavilion, the Revolutionary Martyrs Monument, and the memorial tombs of Political Commissar Zhang Fan and Detachment Commander Jiang Mingda, as well as a parking lot and landscaped gardens. The total investment exceeded 1 million yuan.

In September 1948, the Jin-Xiao Detachment’s logistics department, uniform factory, newspaper office, field hospital, and repair workshop were successively established in Siguang Township, Tonglu County (now Xinho Township). Siguang Township is located in the remote mountainous area in the southern part of Tonglu County, bordering Zhuji, Pujiang, and Fuyang counties. With its high mountains, dense forests, rugged terrain, and strategic advantages, it was a difficult area for the Kuomintang to control—an untouchable “no man’s land.”

The logistics department, as the administrative body of the logistics base, gradually expanded from a small team to more than ten members and established a General Party Branch Committee. With the Party organization at its core, it strengthened the leadership of logistics work. Subordinate units such as the field hospital, uniform factory, repair workshop, and liaison station also established Party branches and direct Party groups. According to incomplete statistics, by May 1949, when the counties in the Jin-Xiao region were liberated, the logistics department had a total of 35 Party members.

Source: Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee Party History and Literature Research Office

Xinho Township: Located in the southeastern part of Tonglu County, Xinho Township borders Zhuji, Pujiang, and Fuyang to the southeast, north, and northeast, and connects to Fengchuan to the northwest. The township government is stationed in Waishanshan, making it a quintessential remote mountainous township. The township covers a total area of 74.2 square kilometers, including 3,003 acres of arable land and 100,000 acres of forested land. It governs five administrative villages, 22 natural villages, and has a total population of over 5,500, nearly half of whom bear the surname Zhong. The area was historically part of Shuibin Township, renamed Siguang Township in 1938 (the 27th year of the Republic of China). In 1950, it was divided into Xin’si and Xinmin townships, which merged back into Xinho Township in June 1956. 1... More detailed information about Xinho Township++