Former Site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou

Former Site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou

The former site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism attraction.

The former site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou is located at No. 332–352 Shengli Street, Jiang’an District, Wuhan City (formerly Daha Street in Hankou).

On November 12, 1937, with the approval of the Central Committee, Ye Ting officially began establishing the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Wuhan. On December 25, 1937, Ye Ting and Xiang Ying held a meeting with leading cadres, and the New Fourth Army Headquarters was officially established in Hankou. To swiftly complete the formation of the New Fourth Army, the headquarters negotiated with the authorities to resolve issues such as the concentration and reorganization of various detachments, the appointment of cadres, and the chain of command. They also determined the methods for concentrating and reorganizing the Red Army guerrilla forces, the operational deployment of the New Fourth Army, and raised funds, weapons, and supplies from various sources. New Fourth Army generals who worked and lived here at the time included Ye Ting, Xiang Ying, Zhang Yunyi, Zhou Zikun, and Zeng Shan. In late January 1938, the New Fourth Army Headquarters moved to Nanchang, and the Hankou headquarters was converted into the New Fourth Army’s Hankou Office.

The original site was a residence for Japanese expatriates, consisting of two adjacent two-story brick-and-wood residential buildings with a total floor area of 1,029 square meters. The buildings feature brick load-bearing walls, with original wooden beams on both the first and second floors, topped with fir wood flooring. The roof is made of triangular wooden trusses with a sloped surface covered in red tiles. The exterior walls are plastered with mixed mortar, and the central front is adorned with simple Western-style carvings. Both the first and second floors have balconies, with the upper part of the balcony featuring operable glass windows and the lower part fitted with movable wooden panels.

The former site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou exhibits characteristics of Japanese residential architecture and bears witness to the historical establishment of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Wuhan, holding significant historical and artistic value.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) designated the former site of the New Fourth Army Headquarters in Hankou as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Hubei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units