Former Site of the Administrative Office of the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Commissioners

Former Site of the Administrative Office of the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Commissioners

The Former Site of the Administrative Office of the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Commissioners is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province and a base for patriotic education.

Republican-Era Shantou · Former Site of the Administrative Office of the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Commissioners is located on Waima Road in Shantou. It is a five-bay, three-courtyard ancestral hall-style building. Constructed in the 14th year of the Guangxu reign during the Qing Dynasty (1888), it originally served as the Tongqing Charitable Hall. In the 27th year of Guangxu (1905), Taiwanese patriot Qiu Fengjia established the first modern school in eastern Guangdong, the Dongdong Tongwen Academy, here. After the Republican era, it was successively repurposed as the Dongdong First-Class Commercial School and the Shantou Merchant Marine School. On February 1, 1926, Zhou Enlai took office as the Administrative Commissioner of the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Commissioners and set up the administrative office here. The Chaoshan and Meizhou regions were areas severely oppressed by imperialism, feudalism, and reactionary warlords. To revive the Eastern Guangdong region and rescue its people, the Administrative Office held the Eastern Guangdong Administrative Conference here from February 22 to March 3, 1926. Zhou Enlai presided over the conference. A total of 124 attendees participated, including county magistrates, education bureau directors, and representatives from various sectors such as agriculture, industry, commerce, academia, and women’s groups across the Hui, Chao, and Meizhou areas. Yun Daiying, Deng Yingchao, and Peng Pai were specially invited delegates; Yang Shipeng, Chen Zhuofan, Liu Houwu, and Wang Dingxin also attended. The conference received 197 proposals and plans, as well as 254 reports and survey forms. Ultimately, 93 resolutions covering military, political, party affairs, education, civil administration, finance, commerce, labor, and women’s issues were passed, marking an important chapter in the revolutionary history of Eastern Guangdong. This was the first site where a Chinese Communist Party member presided over a local government under the cooperation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and it also served as a revolutionary hub for the Party to guide the policies of Eastern Guangdong and revitalize eastern Guangdong.

In December 1979, the People's Government of Guangdong Province designated it as a cultural relic protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units