Former Site of the Commanders of the Central Plains Military Region & the Grand Assembly Hall

Former Site of the Commanders of the Central Plains Military Region & the Grand Assembly Hall

The Former Site of the Commanders of the Central Plains Military Region and the Grand Assembly Hall is a cultural relic protection unit of Hubei Province.

The former site of the Grand Assembly Hall of the Central Plains Military Region is located 80 meters south of the former site of the Central Plains Military Region Headquarters, facing west with its back to the east, and situated right next to the street.

From January to the end of June 1946, this was the venue where the leading party, government, and military bodies of the Central Plains region frequently held important meetings. The military region successively convened mobilization assemblies on topics such as “Military and Political Education,” “Expenditure Reduction and Production Self-Reliance,” and military demobilization; it also held denunciation assemblies “Against Civil War”; welcomed delegations from the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Relief Commission of the Nationalist Government’s Executive Yuan, the Military Tripartite Liaison Group led by Zhou Enlai, the Ninth Military Execution Group, and the 32nd Military Execution Group (i.e., the Xuanhuadian Execution Group); the Central Plains Military Region, the Democratic Construction University, local gentry of Xuanhuadian, and the provisional assembly of the Central Plains Liberated Area all held grand evening galas here at different times; Comrade Dong Biwu was welcomed here, and a press conference for both Chinese and foreign journalists was held; Comrade Zhou Enlai also convened a meeting here with officers of the Central Plains Military Region at the rank of regiment and above, conveying the important directive from the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao Zedong about “preparing to fight,” which greatly inspired the officers and soldiers of the Central Plains troops.

Governments at all levels have attached great importance to this historical site and allocated funds for its renovation. It serves as one of the important venues for educating the public in revolutionary traditions.

This site was originally built by merchants in the late Qing Dynasty. It is a two-story brick-and-wood structure with two courtyards and a total of ten rooms (five per floor), featuring walls made of mud-filled blue bricks. The roof is covered with wooden rafters, purlins, and small clay tiles, all typical of traditional civilian architecture. The site covers a total area of 335 square meters, with a built-up area of 335 square meters.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hubei Province