Former Site of the Democratic Government of Chahar Province

Former Site of the Democratic Government of Chahar Province

The Former Site of the Democratic Government of Chahar Province is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

Xuanhua, located 175 kilometers west of Beijing and home to over 300,000 people, boasts a long history and rich cultural heritage. It is a renowned historical and cultural city in Hebei Province and an ancient frontier town in northern China. During the Qin Dynasty, it was part of Shanggu Commandery, became Wuzhou in the Tang Dynasty, was renamed Xuanhua Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty, and was known as Xuanhua City after liberation. In 1963, it became Xuanhua District under Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. Xuanhua is home to numerous cultural relics and historic sites, such as the majestic Ming Dynasty structures Qingyuan Tower and Zhenso Tower—often referred to as the “Second Yellow Crane Tower”—and the Xia Balili Liao Tombs mural tomb complex, all of which are national key cultural relics protection units. Other provincial-level protected sites include Gongji Tower and the Brick Carved Five-Dragon Wall. Additionally, Xuanhua features a particularly notable modern relic: the Former Site of the Democratic Government of Chahar Province, the first provincial-level government established under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Located at No. 50 Pailou West Street in the ancient city, it is a traditional courtyard that blends Chinese and Western architectural styles.

This three-courtyard compound was originally built in 1930 as the “Joseph Seminary” by five dioceses spanning the Catholic Church’s Chahar, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong regions. It was constructed east of the Catholic church on Pailou West Street in Xuanhua (built in 1902 using Boxer Indemnity funds). The structure features brick columns with eaves corridors, combining Chinese and Western elements, with a rational layout, simple elegance, and solemn uniformity. The two-story building in the central courtyard is a quintessential example of Gothic architecture, with its guardhouse and eaves corridor also reflecting distinct Western styles and embodying certain era characteristics. The front courtyard’s main house, with its Qing Dynasty-style flat-roofed buildings along the front and rear eaves corridors, is even more rare. At the time, the “Joseph Seminary,” known as the “Grand Theological Seminary,” occupied two front courtyards and enrolled junior monks with high school education from five dioceses: Yi County, Fenyang, Hongtong, Linqing, and Xuanhua. However, with the Japanese invasion reaching Xuanhua, in January 1943, the Japanese puppet regime established the puppet Xuanhua Province under the so-called Mongolian Autonomous Government, forcing the Joseph Seminary to disband. The site was then repurposed as the puppet provincial government office. On September 2, 1945, the Eighth Route Army of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region liberated Xuanhua. The people of Chahar, long oppressed under puppet rule, yearned for a bright life and a new, democratic, peaceful, and united Chahar. In November of the same year, following the decision of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Government, a historically significant Chahar Provincial People’s Representative Conference was held in Xuanhua. It elected the first democratic provincial government of the Communist Party of China and converted the former puppet provincial government office into the offices of the democratic government.

The People’s Representative Conference was grandly held at the Xuanhua People’s Theater (now the Xuanhua District Cinema) from November 2 to 6. A total of 139 representatives from 19 counties and 18 leagues/banners across the province, representing 2 million people, attended. The conference established the “Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region Governance Program” issued by the CPC Central Committee’s Northern Bureau as the governance program for the Chahar Provincial Government. It discussed and passed nine key proposals, including “Oppose Civil War, Strive for Peace,” “Develop the Economy, Support the Frontlines,” and “Commemorate National Heroes, Punish War Criminals.” The conference elected nine members and two alternate members of the Chahar Provincial Democratic Government. Among all members, three were Communists, and six were non-party figures. Zhang Su was elected Chairman of the Provincial Government with 135 votes. After the establishment of the Chahar Provincial Democratic Government, Xuanhua was designated as a city and became the provincial capital. On December 1 of the same year, the provincial party committee and government’s official newspaper, New Chahar Daily, was launched on Caishenmiao Street in Xuanhua. The newspaper published a total of 100 issues in Xuanhua, playing a significant role in uniting the people, exposing and combating enemies, establishing the new people’s government, and developing the economy.

On October 10, 1946, as the reactionary Kuomintang faction provoked a nationwide civil war, our army voluntarily withdrew from cities such as Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua. The Chahar Provincial Democratic Government also evacuated Xuanhua and relocated south to Laishui County, Baoding, to join the people’s liberation war. Within just one year of its establishment, the Chahar Provincial Democratic Government, guided by the spirit of Mao Zedong’s report “On Coalition Government” at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China and based on the “Opinions on the Current Guidelines and Work of Chahar Province” passed at the Chahar Provincial People’s Representative Conference, led the people of the province in carrying out land reform, reducing rent and interest, developing production, and supporting the frontlines. It earned the support of people from all ethnic groups and social strata across the province.

Although the Chahar Democratic Government existed in Xuanhua for only one year (from November 1945 to October 1946), as the first provincial-level democratic government in the history of the Chinese revolution, it holds extraordinary historical significance.

In May 2013, the Former Site of the Democratic Government of Chahar Province was listed as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Address: No. 50 Pailou West Street, Xuanhua District, Zhangjiakou City

Phone: 3012964

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units