Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy

Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy

Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy is located within No. 2 Middle School in Wugang City, Shaoyang, adjacent to Faxiangyan Park.

Wugang Zhongshan Hall was built in 1943 by the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen. It combines both Chinese and Western architectural styles, featuring a single-eave hip-and-gable roof structure made of brick and wood. The building includes a main hall, side rooms, a garden, and more, with a stone plaque inscribed with “Zhongshan Hall” hanging above the main hall.

In May 1924, with the help of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Whampoa Military Academy, officially known as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s Army Officer Academy, in Huangpu, Guangzhou — commonly referred to as Whampoa Military Academy. In 1929, the Wuhan Branch was established. In 1938, as Japanese forces advanced toward Wuhan, the Wuhan Branch was ordered to relocate to Wugang and was renamed the Second Branch of the Central Army Officer Academy. It is hailed as the “third-largest military academy” in the Whampoa series. Its first director, Li Minghao, graduated from the Japanese Army Officers’ Academy and had close friendships with CPC members such as Peng Dehuai, Chen Geng, and Zuo Quan. He was an anti-Japanese patriot within the Kuomintang army. The Second Branch operated in Wugang for seven years, enrolling students from the 14th to the 19th classes, comprising six terms across ten regiments (regiment-level units), and trained nearly 10,000 junior officers. These officers played a significant role in the War of Resistance against Japan, with some sacrificing their lives to defend the Chinese nation. It served not only as a cradle for cultivating military leaders in the war effort but also as a historical testament to the united anti-Japanese struggle of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy was designated as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Hunan Province by the People’s Government of Hunan Province in January 1996; it was recognized as a Municipal Patriotic Education Base by the Propaganda Department of the Shaoyang Municipal Committee in November 2005, and as a Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Propaganda Department of the Hunan Provincial Committee in July 2010.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) announced Wugang Zhongshan Hall – Former Site of the Second Branch of Whampoa Military Academy as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units