Former Site of the Underground Secret Transportation Hub in the YMCA Basement

Former Site of the Underground Secret Transportation Hub in the YMCA Basement

The former site of the underground secret transportation hub in the YMCA basement is a cultural heritage site protected by Taijiang District and a classic red tourism destination.

The former site of the underground secret transportation hub in the YMCA basement is located at No. 357, West Jiangbin Avenue, Taijiang District, Fuzhou City.

In 1910, after 62-year-old patriotic overseas Chinese leader Huang Naiyang from Fujian took over as president of the Fuzhou Christian Youth Association, in order to provide the association members with a fixed venue for activities and facilitate communication with people from all walks of life, Huang personally donated 45,000 yuan to purchase the land. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt contributed 120,000 US dollars for the construction costs. In the 5th year of the Republic of China (1916 AD), the Fuzhou Christian Youth Association building was constructed on Canxiazhou in Taijiang. The building was situated by the Min River, near the Wanshou Bridge, and was grand in scale and impressive in style. It was the earliest and largest comprehensive building in modern Fuzhou.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China established an underground secret transportation hub in Room 401 of the building, which was the office of the American Information Service’s special commissioner in Fuzhou. A special branch was also set up, with Sun Daohua, secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee, serving as the branch secretary. Members included Fu Sunhuan, Chen Wenxiang, and Cai Longtong. Among those who stayed in Rooms 401 and 403 of the YMCA were Zeng Jingbing, secretary of the Fujian–Zhejiang–Jiangxi District Party Committee. In the second half of 1948, Xie Xiaodi, head of the Fujian branch of the Social Department of the CPC Central Committee, also stayed at the YMCA upon arriving in Fuzhou. Underground party member Cai Longtong, who served as an underground courier and liaison, was also the American Information Service’s special commissioner in Fuzhou. Using his official position at the service, he protected senior party cadres, liaised with other members of the special branch, obtained enemy intelligence, and made significant contributions to the party’s underground work.

The building covers an area of more than 3,000 square meters, with a construction area of 8,156 square meters. The entire structure is built with red bricks, featuring a three-story front building and a four-story rear building, separated by a central courtyard. The floors are entirely paved with premium nanmu wood, which remains well-preserved to this day. The right side of the front building, from the second to third floors, housed classrooms and student dormitories of the Fuzhou Christian Youth Association, while the first floor contained a Western restaurant, the student union office, a barbershop, and showers. The left side of the first floor included a cinema, the general secretary’s office, the Young Women’s Christian Association section, and a meeting room, with a central hall in between. The basement of the rear building housed a swimming pool, while the upper floors included a gym, -- room, table tennis room, billiards hall, library, and reading room. In addition, the building had Fuzhou’s only indoor dual-purpose basketball and volleyball court at the time, with seating for hundreds of spectators around the second-floor perimeter. Participation was not limited to members of the Christian Youth—youth from all sectors of society could take part in the association’s activities. The arched doors and windows, spacious function rooms, unique courtyard spaces, and staggered corridors still faintly reflect the building’s former glory. The blue stone plaque on the wall at the entrance is inscribed with the six characters “Christian Youth Association.” In front of the building stands a white marble stele, with the four large characters “Foundation of Self-Strengthening” engraved in the center. The foundation stone of the building is also inscribed with the educational philosophy: “Not to be served, but to serve” and “All for one, one for all.”

The former site of the underground secret transportation hub in the YMCA basement was designated as a cultural heritage site under the protection of Taijiang District by the Taijiang District People’s Government in June 2004.

(Source: “A Guide to Revolutionary Sites in Fuzhou”)