Former Site of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital in Tongjiang

Former Site of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital in Tongjiang

The Former Site of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital in Tongjiang is a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism attraction.

Former Site of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital in Tongjiang (1 site, 2 locations) (Tongjiang County)

On December 18, 1932, the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army entered Sichuan through Lianghekou in Tongjiang County, rapidly establishing the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area with Tongjiang as its capital and forming a Soviet government. Shortly afterward, to address the medical treatment and care needs of tens of thousands of soldiers, the Fourth Front Army expanded the Field Hospital of the 10th Division in Nixi, Tongjiang County, into the General Hospital of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission—also known as the General Hospital of the Fourth Front Army. Zhou Guangtan served as hospital director, and Zhang Qinqiu as head of the political department.

The general hospital also oversaw military and divisional hospitals, 12 branch hospitals, and a nursing school. These facilities were scattered across 17 farmsteads in 6 residential groups, covering a built-up area of over 40,000 square meters. The daily capacity to receive wounded and sick soldiers increased from 3,000 to 5,000.

Seventy-seven years later, the former hospital site before the reporter’s eyes has long lost its former bustle. The compound that once housed the headquarters of the general hospital is a late Qing Dynasty–era farmhouse-style quadrangle courtyard, situated in a depression in Wangping, oriented west to east, and covering an area of about 400 square meters. The entire structure consists of two rows of buildings, along with wing rooms on both sides and corner rooms, forming a traditional four-sided courtyard with a central open space. The front row is built on stilts, with a “swallow”-style entrance gate in the middle. Stone steps lead into the courtyard, and the ground floors of the side rooms were used as horse stables for the Red Army hospital.

Today, parts of the hospital setup from the Red Army period have been restored within the courtyard, including the office of the hospital headquarters and the political department office. Additionally, artifacts used by the Red Army such as medicine troughs, pounding mortars, windmills, oil lamps, lanterns, worn desks, inkstones, and beds have been preserved, recreating the harsh working conditions and environment of the general hospital at the time.

In the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area, besides the Red Army General Hospital, there was another well-known hospital—the Sichuan-Shaanxi Provincial Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital, which was founded in July 1933 by the then Soviet government in Maoyu Town, Tongjiang County, and later relocated to Xiaokou Village, Changsheng Township. The Workers' and Peasants' General Hospital covered an area of 8.3 square kilometers and had a political department, medical department, general affairs department, and 15 patient companies. These 15 companies were distributed across 15 large courtyards on three long plateaus. Today, these 15 courtyards have been designated as county-level cultural relics protection units.

Protected area: A 30-meter buffer zone extends outward from the main structures of the headquarters and the old site of the New Drama Troupe, and a 10-meter buffer extends beyond the perimeter wall of the martyrs’ cemetery.

Construction control zone: A 20-meter buffer extends outward from the protected area.

Further reading:

· Eighth Batch of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units