Former Site of the Minsheng Road Business Office of Xin Hua Daily

Former Site of the Minsheng Road Business Office of Xin Hua Daily

The former site of the Minsheng Road business office of Xin Hua Daily is a cultural relic protection unit of Chongqing Municipality.

The former site of the Minsheng Road business office of Xin Hua Daily is located on the north side of the middle section of Minsheng Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing. This building was constructed in the 1930s, with a floor area of 274 square meters, and was originally built by Sichuan Juxingcheng Bank. In August 1940, the Xin Hua Daily business office, which was previously located at No. 12 Xisan Street in Chongqing, was bombed by Japanese aircraft. Through various channels and overcoming the unreasonable obstruction by the Kuomintang authorities, Xin Hua Daily rented this three-story building on what was then Chongqing’s “Cultural Street” to serve as its business office and workspace. The office moved in and started operating here on October 27 of the same year, remaining until February 22, 1946, when it was vandalized by Kuomintang agents.

Above the entrance and on the front wall of the office are signs bearing the four large Chinese characters “Xin Hua Daily,” inscribed by Yu Youren, a veteran leader of the Kuomintang. The ground floor served as the business office, covering an area of about sixty square meters. The second floor housed the office departments, where sections such as the library, advertising, distribution, and mail-order were all based. After the “Southern Anhui Incident,” as the repression by the Kuomintang intensified, in order to facilitate meetings and discussions with progressive individuals from all walks of life in the wartime capital, leaders of the Southern Bureau, including Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu, often held secret meetings and talks with figures from various sectors and heads of democratic parties in the reception room on the second floor of the business office. The third floor was used as the living and office quarters for Pan Zinian, the publisher of Xin Hua Daily, within the city, as well as temporary housing for reporters, and lodging for office staff, deliverymen, and newspaper boys.

The Xin Hua Daily business office fought on this site for nearly six years, publishing thousands of progressive books and periodicals, making tremendous contributions to the propaganda efforts of the Chinese Communist Party during the War of Resistance Against Japan and the early stage of the Liberation War. On February 22, 1946, after this site was vandalized by Kuomintang agents, the Xin Hua Daily business office moved to No. 39 Dexingli, continuing its operations at Xinglu until it was sealed off by the Chongqing authorities of the Kuomintang on February 28, 1947.

In 1974, the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government designated the ground floor as a memorial site, and in 1982, the entire building was taken over by the Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial Hall. After comprehensive renovation and meticulous restoration, it was officially opened to the public in October 1986. This former site was twice announced as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, in 1964 and 1980.

Source: Chongqing Hongyan Cultural Development Management Center; Author: Liu Liqun