Former Residence of Zhang Chong

The Former Residence of Zhang Chong, also known as Chongshan Villa, is situated in Songke Village, Songmu Village Committee, Shemu Town, Dongshan County, Honghe, Yunnan Province — about 1 kilometer southeast of the Salt Factory on Xiaomiao Mountain. The village lies 46 kilometers from Mile City. The original house was built during the late Qing Dynasty in the Guangxu era but was destroyed by fire during the Republican period. In 1933, the current residence was rebuilt in Songke Village. It includes five structures: the main house, kitchen, servants’ quarters, barracks, and toilet. The residence is dominated by a two-story main European-style building with an arc-shaped front section and a flat concrete roof, while the rear section features traditional brick-and-wood construction. In front of and on both sides of the house lies a nearly 400-square-meter concrete-paved parking area. Directly behind the house is a single-story, three-room brick-and-tile building connected to the main structure via a door. Inside the main building are facilities such as the master bedroom, study, guard room, reception hall, meeting room, bathroom, basement, and warm kitchen. The entire complex is surrounded by towering ancient trees, offering a panoramic view of the Yipinglang Salt Mine and surrounding streets. Having endured years of weathering, the yellowish walls have begun to peel, and the paint on the window frames has faded. Stepping inside, apart from the restored first and second floors, there are no remaining objects or historical materials. After touring the house, we rested on a stone bench by the parking lot, listening to the rustling of old trees in the wind — memories blur and time fades.

General Zhang Chong is hailed as the “Three-Gods General”: God of War, God of Salt, and God of Water. He was born into a small Yi ethnic official family in Mile County, Yunnan Province. In his early years, he organized local militias. In 1924, he was incorporated into government forces and successively served as detachment commander, deputy regimental commander, and railway protection commander for the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. He executed corrupt officials, robbed the rich, and held positions such as brigade commander, division commander, army commander in the Kuomintang, as well as Yunnan Salt Transport Commissioner. He became a “Famed Anti-Japanese General” during the Battle of Taierzhuang, and was later appointed as Vice Chairman of the Yunnan Provincial People’s Government and Deputy Director of the Yunnan Ethnic Affairs Commission, Vice Governor and Director of the Provincial Ethnic Affairs Commission, and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. General Zhang Chong led a life of struggle and extraordinary achievements. In Yunnan, three stone monuments commemorate his dedication to the people: one is the “Monument to Zhang Chong for Founding the Salt Mine” at Yipinglang Salt Mine in Lufeng County, another is the “Monument to Benefiting All Across Ten Thousand Miles” at Taiping Reservoir in Mile County, and the third is the “Tiger Leaping Gorge Monument” in Shangri-La County.

Zhang Chong, courtesy name Shaoyu, art name Yunpeng, of the Yi ethnicity, was born in 1900.He was from Xiaobukan, Yongning Township, Luxi County, Yunnan Province (now part of Mile County).In late 1918, he took to the “greenwood” path (becoming an outlaw hero), opened grain stores to aid the people, fought injustice, and was welcomed and beloved by the laboring masses. His forces grew to over 600 men, shaking the southeastern Yunnan region for a time. The expansion of Zhang Chong’s forces alarmed the provincial government. Military Governor Tang Jiyao sent troops to suppress them multiple times, but all attempts failed. Later, he accepted amnesty and was incorporated into the 17th Detachment of Tang Jiyao’s forces as detachment commander, later promoted to deputy regimental commander of the 9th Regiment of the 2nd Army and railway protection commander for the Kaiyuan to Panxi section of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. After 1923, Zhang Chong went to Sichuan to fight against the Northern Warlords, assisted Long Yun in his power struggle with Hu Ruoyu for control of Yunnan, and cleared out remnants of Hu Ruoyu’s forces in Dali, earning repeated merits. In 1927, he was appointed by the new provincial chairman Long Yun as commander of the 5th Division of the Yunnan Army.

In 1933, while serving as Yunnan Salt Transport Commissioner, Zhang Chong proposed the grand “Move Brine to Coal” plan to the provincial government, which reduced costs and increased production. Due to his outstanding achievements in salt administration, the local people erected a monument in his honor.

During his tenure as Salt Transport Commissioner in 1937, Zhang Chong returned to Mile to investigate water conservancy projects and proposed the development of the Dianxi River for irrigation.

In 1937, Long Yun appointed Zhang Chong as deputy commander of the 60th Army of the Yunnan Army and concurrently commander of the 184th Division. In March 1938, the 60th Army arrived in Wuhan, where members of the Chinese Communist Party were sent in. In April of the same year, the 60th Army was ordered to join the Battle of Taierzhuang, with the 184th Division defending the Yuwangshan position east of Taierzhuang.

Zhang Chong commanded his entire division to completely annihilate the suicide squad of Major Yokoya of the Japanese Yoshida Detachment, killing over a thousand Japanese soldiers, and buying time for hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops to escape enemy encirclement. Due to his remarkable military achievements, Chiang Kai-shek promoted Zhang Chong to commander of the New 3rd Army. Later, Zhang Chong also led forces in the Defense of Wuhan, inflicting heavy damage on the Japanese once again.

In August 1940, Zhang Chong was appointed supervisor of the “Miliu Water Conservancy Project Supervision Office,” overseeing the construction of the “Long Gong Canal” and “Dianhui Canal.” He is regarded as the founder of Mile’s water conservancy development.

In the autumn of 1940, to prevent the Japanese from entering Yunnan through Vietnam, the Nationalist Government redeployed the 60th Army back to Yunnan for defense and formed the First Army Group, with Zhang Chong appointed as commander of the Second Route Army.

In the spring of 1944, Zhang Chong used over 100 taels of gold to purchase six light machine guns, 120 Czech rifles, and 100,000 rounds of ammunition from the Nationalist 8th Army commander He Shaozhou in Guizhou. He entrusted He Xianlong to distribute and hide these weapons among reliable Yi people in Mile, Luxi, and Lunan. These weapons later equipped guerrilla forces in the Mile-Lu region during the Liberation War and were the finest arms used in the Xishan Armed Uprising.

In November 1946, he fled with his family to Yan’an. In February 1947, he proudly joined the Chinese Communist Party, successively holding positions such as senior staff officer of the Northeast People’s Liberation Army Headquarters and vice chairman of the Songjiang Provincial People’s Government. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he served as a member of the Southwest Military and Political Committee, vice chairman and later governor of the Yunnan Provincial People’s Government, and vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

He made nine inspections of Tiger Leaping Gorge, tirelessly working on hydropower development and the monumental South-to-North Water Diversion project — the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project — proposing numerous water conservancy plans that advanced Yunnan’s water infrastructure and agricultural growth. On October 30, 1980, Zhang Chong passed away in Beijing at the age of 80. The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee praised him in his eulogy as a “good son of the Yi people,” a “loyal proletarian fighter,” and an “outstanding member of the Chinese Communist Party.”

In December 2003, the Former Residence of Zhang Chong was designated as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit in the sixth batch. In March 2011, it was recognized by the Honghe Prefecture Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Honghe Prefecture People’s Government as a Revolutionary Site of Honghe Prefecture.