Guangming Yu Ancestral Hall (Former Site of the Guangming District Soviet Government)

Guangming Yu Ancestral Hall (Former Site of the Guangming District Soviet Government)

Guangming Yu Ancestral Hall (Former Site of the Guangming District Soviet Government) is a Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism attraction.

Guangming Yu Ancestral Hall

Era: Qing Dynasty

Location: Guangming Village, Guangming Township, Jiangle County

Description: Originally built during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, with multiple renovations, the current structure retains the architectural style of the late Qing Dynasty. It faces northeast and is situated southwest, with a slightly trapezoidal floor plan covering an area of approximately 192.5 square meters. The main hall is three bays wide, six pillars deep with a front porch, featuring a rolled shed roof; internal eaves use large crossbeams, with raised beams reducing the front inner and middle columns. Associated relics include the Yu ancestral tomb on the left side.

On June 8, 1931, Luo Hongbiao, leader of the largest bandit gang operating in the regions of Jiangle, Taining, and Shaowu, led over 500 bandits who disguised themselves as the Red Army. They looted shops in Shaowu County town, set fires, and killed people for three days, abducting more than 100 female students from Hanmei Middle School along with large quantities of gold, silver, and valuables. After passing through Anren, Wan’an, and other areas, the gang arrived within Guangming Township, Jiangle County, on the 23rd. Peng Xuefeng, political commissar of the 6th Division of the Red 3rd Army Corps, ordered part of the Red 8th Regiment and the Red 7th Regiment to launch a pincer attack, surrounding Luo’s bandits separately inside the Yu Ancestral Hall in Guangming Township and on a nearby hilltop. The Red Army descended like heavenly soldiers, disarming all the bandits who were drinking inside the ancestral hall. Upon discovering that Luo Hongbiao was not among them, the Red Army quickly tightened the encirclement on the hill behind the village. At this point, Luo Hongbiao coerced the bandits to resist stubbornly, but they were routed under the fierce offensive of the Red Army. Luo Hongbiao, along with two bodyguards, attempted to break through and escape but was captured alive by the Red Army. After more than an hour of fighting, the Red Army defeated over 500 bandits, captured Luo Hongbiao, seized 2 machine guns, 10 horses, and numerous rifles, ammunition, gold, silver dollars, opium, and other valuables, and rescued the over 100 abducted female students. The Red Army held a mass meeting and executed Luo Hongbiao at Shaxizhou on the bridgehead, putting an end to years of banditry. After the establishment of the Guangming District Soviet Government, it operated out of the Yu Ancestral Hall in Guangming Village.

The former site of the Guangming District Soviet Government was originally the Yu Ancestral Hall in Guangming Village, Guangming Township. Built in the second year of the Xiangxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1279), it faces south and features a wooden-framed enclosed structure with upper, middle, and lower halls, as well as two courtyards, flanked by 10 symmetrical wing rooms. In front of the ancestral hall lies a courtyard, with a row of storage rooms on the left side.

The Yu Ancestral Hall, the former site of the Guangming District Soviet Government, was designated as a protected site by the Jiangle County Cultural Relics Management Committee in June 2003 and was listed as a Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Fujian Provincial People's Government in November 2009.

Protected Area: North to the highway, west to the Yu family wall, south to the Xie family wall, east to the Land Office.

Guangming Village: Guangming Village…… More details about Guangming Village++

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units