Former Residence of Guo Moruo in Chongqing

Former Residence of Guo Moruo in Chongqing

The former residence of Guo Moruo in Chongqing is a Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a patriotic education base.

Era: 1938–1946

Type: Important Modern Historical Site and Representative Architecture

Region: Yuzhong District & Shapingba District, Chongqing

Batch: Seventh Batch

The former residence of Guo Moruo in Chongqing, along with the site of the Third Department of the Political Department of the National Government Military Commission and the Cultural Work Committee, is situated in Banana Garden Village (Quanjia Courtyard), Xiyong Town, Shapingba District, Chongqing. The residence covers an area of 10,190 square meters with a built-up area of 1,566 square meters. It features the architectural style of a late Qing Dynasty courtyard, with a post-and-lintel structure, small blue tiles on the roof, and a gabled roof.

This site faces south and is a two-story building with a ground floor, combining Chinese and Western architectural styles. It is built with brick and wood, measuring 14.2 meters in width, 11.3 meters in depth, and approximately 16 meters in total height. The site covers an area of about 220 square meters with a built-up area of 595.23 square meters. Originally, this was a private residence built by Zhang Yingzhang, the brother-in-law of Pan Wenhua, Chongqing’s first mayor. It was later given to the National Government to serve as the office of the Third Department of the Political Department. It is now a residential property and has become increasingly dilapidated due to years of neglect. Guo Moruo (1892–1978), from Leshan, Sichuan, was a renowned writer, historian, and archaeologist. In 1914, he went to study in Japan. After 1917, he actively participated in the New Culture Movement. With his poetry collection Goddess, he established his literary reputation and became a leading figure of the literary group Creation Society. During the War of Resistance against Japan, while in Chongqing, he created a series of historical plays, with Qu Yuan being the most representative, which caused a sensation in the wartime capital. His historical research work, The Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Jia-Shen Incident, was selected by the CPC Central Committee as a study material for Party members. During the Great Revolution, Guo Moruo served as Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Northern Expeditionary Army and participated in the Nanchang Uprising, where he joined the Chinese Communist Party. He then spent over a decade in Japan but returned to China after the outbreak of the War of Resistance to join the anti-Japanese salvation efforts. In December 1938, Guo Moruo, appointed as Director of the Third Department of the Political Department of the National Government Military Commission, came to Chongqing. Amid relentless Japanese air raids, he led cultural figures in persisting with anti-Japanese propaganda activities. In September 1940, the Third Department was reorganized. Through Zhou Enlai’s tactful arrangement, Guo Moruo became the Director of the Cultural Work Committee under the Political Department. In 1941, a grand 50th birthday celebration for him was jointly organized by cultural figures in major cities, initiated by Zhou Enlai, becoming a widely celebrated event. In December 1945, amid the darkening clouds of civil war, the “Statement on the Current Situation,” drafted by Guo Moruo and signed by over 300 cultural figures in Chongqing, played a significant role in galvanizing public movements in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. Guo Moruo became a prominent leader of the mass movement. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Guo Moruo held various leadership positions in the Party and the state, mainly overseeing cultural and scientific affairs. This site reflects Guo Moruo’s work and life in Chongqing, as well as the state of cultural propaganda during the War of Resistance, carrying deep social, political, and humanistic significance, and possessing high historical and cultural value. On December 1, 1983, the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government designated the “Former Residence of Guo Moruo and the Site of the Third Department of the Political Department of the National Government Military Commission” as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit. In 2000, it was announced by the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government as one of the first batch of municipal-level cultural relics protection units after Chongqing became a municipality directly under the central government.

Guo Moruo (1892–1978). Born on November 16, 1892, in Sha Wan, Tonghe, Leshan, Sichuan Province, he graduated from Kyushu Imperial University in Japan. He was a modern writer, historian, and one of the founders of modern Chinese poetry.

In 1914, Guo Moruo went to Japan to study medicine at Kyushu Imperial University. In 1921, he published his first poetry collection, Goddess. In 1930, he wrote Research on Ancient Chinese Society. In 1949, Guo Moruo was elected Chairman of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

He once served as… More details about Guo Moruo++