Former Site of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union

Former Site of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union

The Former Site of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism destination.

The Former Site of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union is located at No. 2185 Jiefang Avenue, Jiang’an District, Wuhan.

Originally the location of the Jiang’an Branch Union, in February 1923, leaders of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union came from Zhengzhou to Hankou and set up their office here. Key figures including Zhang Teli (Zhang Guotao), Li Zhenying, Chen Tanqiu, Lin Yunan, Xiang Delong (Xiang Ying), Yang Defu, Shi Yang, and Lin Xiangqian held meetings, drafted declarations and telegrams, and produced propaganda materials here, turning the site into the command center for leading the general strike of the Beijing-Hankou Railway. On the morning of February 4, 1923, Lin Xiangqian issued a strike order here. Huang Zhengxing, a boiler worker at the Jiang’an Locomotive Works (now the Jiang’an Rolling Stock Plant), responded by forcefully sounding the whistle that signaled the start of the strike—thus igniting the shocking nationwide Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Strike.

With assistance from the Wuhan District Committee of the Communist Party of China, the union also published a mimeographed monthly bulletin, The Strike Monthly, on this site. On the afternoon of February 7, 1923, worker representatives participating in the final negotiations gathered here to discuss strategy. A few hours later, many were shot or bayoneted to death by warlord troops. Following the massacre, the union ceased operations.

The original site was located at No. 1437 Jiefang Avenue but was relocated in its entirety to its current address in 1995 due to the widening of Jiefang Avenue.

In November 1956, the Hubei Provincial People's Committee designated the Former Site of the Beijing-Hankou Railway Workers' Union as a Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) listed the site as part of the seventh group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· First Group of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units