Former Site of Private Wuhan Middle School

Former Site of Private Wuhan Middle School

The Former Site of Private Wuhan Middle School is a municipal cultural relics protection unit.

Former Site of Private Wuhan Middle School

Inside Wuhan Middle School, No. 27 Liangdao Street, Wuchang District

Built in the late Qing Dynasty, rebuilt in 1985

Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit

A not-so-wide arched school gate, two rows of single-story brick-and-wood structure buildings, plus a playground—these all remain just as they were in the days of the former Private Wuhan Middle School.

The two rows of buildings feature characteristics of late Qing Dynasty Confucian school architecture: white walls with gray tiles, corridors with wide eaves, round and flat stone pedestals beneath the columns where they meet the ground; outside the columns, there are fences carved from bluestone, adorned with simple yet exquisite floral patterns.

In January 1919, Dong Biwu, who was then working at the headquarters of the Hubei Western Pacification Army, discussed with several fellow Hubei natives how to promote Marxism and mobilize the masses. They agreed that starting a newspaper or a school would be best. The idea of a newspaper was abandoned due to funding issues, and thus Private Wuhan Middle School was founded and opened on April 10, 1920.

This was the first place in Hubei to offer classes in vernacular Chinese; it was also among the earlier institutions to implement coeducation; it produced two delegates to the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Dong Biwu and Chen Tanqiu, both faculty members of the school); and historic figures such as Li Dazhao, Yun Daiying, and Li Hanjun once taught here.