Former Site of the Qingtan Underground Party Branch of the CPC

Former Site of the Qingtan Underground Party Branch of the CPC

The former site of the Qingtan Underground Party Branch of the CPC is a classic red tourism destination and a patriotic education base.

The former site of the Qingtan Underground Party Branch of the CPC is located in the rear playground of Qingtan Middle School in Jingtou Town, Hengyang County, Hengyang City.

The site was originally an ancestral hall of the Xiong family, built during the Qing Dynasty as a quadrangle courtyard structure with two courtyards and two wings. The wings were framed with wood, while the courtyards featured brick-and-wood construction with blue-tiled roofs. Most of the structure has now been destroyed, leaving only two earthen-brick rooms with tiled roofs.

The Qingtan Branch of the CPC was established in 1938 under the Central Special Branch and was directly led by Liu Daoheng, head of the Hunan Work Group. In the spring of 1942, after Liu was ordered to go to Chongqing, he transferred the organizational relationship to the Hunan Provincial Working Committee of the CPC, where it came under the direct leadership of Zhou Li and maintained a single-line contact with Xie Jiemei until the liberation of Hengyang. Comrades such as Xiong Zilie, He Daqun, Fang Yong, Gu Ziyuan, Liu Zijun, Xiong Wenyuan, and Xiong Houyi successively served as branch secretaries. The party membership started with three or four members and grew to 25 by the eve of liberation. Xiong Zilie was the first branch secretary, and figures such as Huang Daoqi and Zhou Li had worked here.

Established amid the flames of the War of Resistance, the Qingtan Branch of the CPC, under the direct leadership of the Central Special Branch and the Hunan Provincial Working Committee, used Qingtan Primary School as a front to shelter the underground party base. It concealed key personnel, built up strength, established united fronts, carried out anti-Japanese salvation activities, and resisted the “Three Levies” (conscription, grain requisition, and taxation imposed by the Kuomintang). Party members were dispatched to infiltrate enemy lines, exploit internal conflicts, wage brave struggles, support the people’s liberation efforts, and ultimately welcome the liberation of the people of Hengyang.

In April 2012, the former site of the Qingtan Underground Party Branch of the CPC was designated as a Hengyang Municipal Patriotic Education Base by the Publicity Department of the Hengyang Municipal Committee.