Yonggu Tower

Yonggu Tower

Yonggu Tower is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

Yonggu Tower is situated on the mountaintop (also known as Fort Ridge) behind the Yingqian Village group in Taoh River Village, Wangmudu Town, Gan County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. It lies 46 kilometers south of the county seat, faces northeast and sits southwest, built with a structure of lime-soil, wood, and brick. The three-story tower has a single bay in both width and depth, with the main building’s overall plan forming a chamfered rectangle. The four corners of the wall feature pointed foundations that extend 4.6 meters straight outward to form horns or wing walls. The average thickness of the walls is 0.5 meters, with an overall length of 12 meters and width of 11 meters, covering an area of about 132 square meters. On the upper part of the front wall facing northeast, the three characters “Yonggu Tower” (meaning “Everlasting Fortress”) are inscribed in hollow regular script, read from right to left. The outer walls (including the corners) are equipped with varying numbers and sizes of long rectangular firing loopholes—narrow on the outside and wider on the inside. The inner walls have chamfered corners with one doorway each. Traces of wooden floor components and rectangular or pentagonal loopholes of various sizes remain on the surrounding walls, and the top edge of the walls features crenellated battlements in a concave shape. In 1934, the 11th Administrative Inspectorate of the Kuomintang implemented the “Fort Policy – Salt Monopoly in the Red Areas” defense strategy in Gan County and constructed the tower. It was bombed by Japanese aircraft during the War of Resistance against Japan, and later suffered damage during the catastrophes of the 1970s and natural erosion. Today, only the tower’s walls remain, with all internal wooden structures completely destroyed. On the night of October 21, 1934, during the Chinese Red Army’s strategic retreat, an intense encounter battle took place between the Red Army and the Kuomintang troops defending the tower, resulting in the annihilation of the defending forces. On July 7, 2005, the Ganzhou Municipal People’s Government listed it as part of the first batch of immovable cultural relics under protection.

Yonggu Tower is one of the very few well-preserved Kuomintang military facilities in southern Jiangxi. In 2006, Shi Zhongquan, a renowned expert in Party history, former deputy director of the Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, and expert on the Long March research, visited Yonggu Tower and remarked: “Yonggu Tower is the best-preserved bunker along the Long March route.” Designated as a municipal-level registered protected site in 2005, it is a representative bunker of the region and holds significant research value.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangxi Province