Yiyang Wenchang Pavilion

Yiyang Wenchang Pavilion

Yiyang Wenchang Pavilion is a Yiyang Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit, a classic red tourism destination, and a patriotic education base.

The former site of the Local Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yiyang County (Wenchang Pavilion) is located in Wenchang Pavilion Community, Qiche Road Subdistrict Office, Ziyang District, Yiyang City.

Wenchang Pavilion was originally known as the Confucian School, which was first built during the Song Dynasty. During the Great Revolution period, it served as the headquarters of the First County Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yiyang.

In August 1924, influenced by the democratic ideas of the May Fourth Movement, Xiong Henghan, along with progressive youth such as Xia Shi, resolved to break away from feudal forces and join the tide of the people's revolution. They organized the Yiyang County Civic Autonomy Association and founded Yiyang’s earliest revolutionary publication, the "Zijiang Magazine," at Wenchang Pavilion in the county seat. The magazine promoted new culture and ideas, and engaged in struggles against feudal diehards led by Wang Jianlong in Yiyang County, with influence reaching several counties in central Hunan. In May 1926, as the peasant movement in Yiyang surged like wildfire, the flames of revolution spread rapidly, and the revolutionary current swept away all corruption. Wenchang Pavilion once again became a frequent gathering place for revolutionaries. In July, Yuan Zhuren, then interim executive member of the CPC Yiyang Regional Committee, successively established contact with party organizations in Nanhutuo, Longzhou Academy, Lanxi, and Shuangjiang, through connections with Gao Wenhua, Dai Wuren, He Ningshu, Yu Huang, He Sheng, and others. They decided to establish the Local Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yiyang County. In October 1926, the First Party Congress of the Communist Party of China in Yiyang County was held at Lanxi Higher Primary School, attended by over 50 Communist Party members. The congress elected a 10-member Local Executive Committee, consisting of Yuan Zhuren, He Ningshu, Gao Wenhua, Yu Huang, He Sheng, Peng Meisheng, He Chengzhou, Sun Mohan, and Gong Yijia. Yuan Zhuren served as secretary, He Ningshu as head of the Organization Department, and Dai Wuren as head of the Propaganda Department. After the meeting, the Yiyang County Committee offices were set up at Wenchang Pavilion in the county seat. The sacred hall and stone pavilion briefly became the nerve center of revolutionary activities in Yiyang County.

In 1929, the Wenchang Pavilion was repurposed by the authorities of the Republic of China as an educational institution, later supplemented with a public library. During the War of Resistance against Japan, the middle and rear halls were converted into a Memorial Hall for Martyrs, with a horizontal plaque on the shrine inscribed “Martyrs’ Spirit Lives Forever.” At the center were plaques commemorating soldiers who died in the Anti-Japanese War, including portraits of 3 generals, 38 colonels, numerous soldiers, 8 Yiyang martyrs, and 1 pilot (American ally, Rolber). In 1944, the public library moved back in, and subsequently, Yishi Affiliated Primary School was opened. In 1963, Yiyang County demolished the Memorial Hall for Martyrs and built the County Huaguxi (Flower Drum Opera) Theater. Since then, only the outer shell of Wenchang Pavilion remained as the theater’s foyer, with the rest completely gone.

The former site of the Local Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yiyang County (Wenchang Pavilion) was designated as a Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Yiyang Municipal People’s Government in June 1998; in 1998, it was also recognized as a Yiyang Municipal Patriotic Education Base by the Yiyang Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department.