Former Site of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School

Former Site of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School

The former site of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

The former site of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School is located at No. 259 Jiefang Road, Wuchang, now within the campus of Hubei Wuchang Experimental Primary School, on the former grounds of the Qing Dynasty’s “Lianghu Academy.” It was a prominent military academy established during the Great Revolution period (the First United Front between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party) to train personnel for the national revolution, under the jurisdiction of the Kuomintang Central Military Committee. The site covers an area of 14,000 square meters, with three surviving brick-and-wood structure bungalows.

In October 1926, the Northern Expeditionary Army recaptured Wuhan. To meet the demands of a rapidly expanding revolution and the need for political and military personnel, the Kuomintang Central Committee initially decided to set up a Political Training Class, which was later transformed into the Political Department of the Central Military and Political School (Whampoa Military Academy). The school was located on the former site of the Lianghu Academy, situated between Wenchang Gate and Pinghu Gate in Wuchang. On January 19, 1927, it was renamed the Wuhan Branch of the Central Military and Political School (Whampoa Military Academy), with Chiang Kai-shek continuing as its president. Yun Daiying served as the Chief Political Instructor, and Lan Tengjiao as the Chief Military Instructor. The school officially opened on February 12, with Soong Ching-ling, Sun Fo, Wu Yuzhang, and Dong Biwu attending the opening ceremony. On March 10, the Third Plenary Session of the Second Kuomintang Central Executive Committee decided to replace the presidential system with a committee system, forming a standing committee composed of Tan Yankai, Deng Yanda, and Yun Daiying, with Yun overseeing daily operations. On March 22, given that the Kuomintang Central and National Government had relocated to Wuhan, it was decided to formally rename the branch as the Central Military and Political School, dropping the “branch” designation. Later that year, after Wang Jingwei instigated the reactionary “July 15” Incident, the situation in Wuhan changed drastically. Most students were incorporated into the Officer Training Corps of the Second Army Group of the National Revolutionary Army’s Fourth Front Army, becoming a significant force in armed uprisings such as the Nanchang Uprising and the Guangzhou Uprising.

The 1936 publication "Draft History of the Central Military Academy" stated: “The scale of the Wuhan Branch was no less than that of the Whampoa headquarters, with over 6,000 male and female students and recruits, making it truly the command center of China’s inland armed revolutionary forces.” The Wuhan Central Military and Political School was the first military academy in Chinese history to admit female students. Li Shuning (Zhao Yiman), Zeng Xianzhi, Zhang Ruihua, Huang Jie, Xie Bingying, Hu Yun, Huang Jingwen, and others were all students there. Though its history was brief, the Wuhan Central Military and Political School nurtured a cohort of committed revolutionaries. Luo Ruiqing, Xu Guangda, Cheng Zihua, Chen Bojun, Qian Ying, Wei Gongzhi, Wang Yixia, Song Qiyun, Peng Jingqiu, and Zang Kejia all embarked on their revolutionary paths from here.

Thirty-eight years prior to the establishment of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School—specifically in 1889—on this very piece of land, Governor-General of Huguang Zhang Zhidong founded the Lianghu Academy. The academy enrolled 240 students annually: 100 from Hunan, 100 from Hubei, and 40 from tea merchant families. Subjects included economics, history, education, and mathematics. At the time, the Lianghu Academy was one of the country’s few high-caliber institutions. Renowned scholars such as Yang Shoujing, Yao Jinqi, Wang Kangnian, Hua Hengfang, and Shen Yongzhi taught there. In 1902, it became the Lianghu College, then in 1905 the Lianghu Advanced College. The Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, and the school closed in 1912. Although Zhang Zhidong originally intended to cultivate talent for the Qing Dynasty, the Lianghu Academy actually nurtured a generation of reformists and revolutionaries. Leaders of the Xinhai Revolution such as Huang Xing, Tang Caichang of the Self-Strengthening Army, and the “Six Gentlemen” of the Hundred Days' Reform—Tan Sitong, Yang Rui, Dong Fuxue, and Liu Guangdi—were all students of the Lianghu Academy.

The Lianghu Academy and the Wuhan Central Military and Political School were both cradles of talent, a stroke of fortune for China’s progress in modern times. Their former sites are treasured cultural landmarks of which Wuhan can be proud. The profound cultural heritage carried by these precious historical remnants serves as spiritual momentum for the Chinese nation to stand independently among the world's peoples. We must protect them well and pass them on from generation to generation.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Issue [2013] No. 13) designated the former site of the Wuhan Central Military and Political School as part of the seventh group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Third Group of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units