Qing Shui County Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement Memorial

Qing Shui County Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement Memorial

The Qing Shui County Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement Memorial is a classic red tourism attraction and a base for patriotic education.

Qing Shui County is under the jurisdiction of Tianshui City, located on the northern bank of the Niutou River, a tributary of the Wei River at the southwestern foot of the Longshan Mountains. It borders Long County and Baoji in Shaanxi Province to the east, connects to Maiji District to the south, neighbors Qin'an County to the west, and adjoins Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County to the north. It earned its name from “four springs flowing forth” and is known as “a strategic pass in Longdong and a shield of Guanshan.”

The Qing Shui County Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement Memorial is located on Wenchang Road in the county town. It was completed in August 2012, with a total construction area of 600 square meters. The exhibition is divided into three sections: “The Flames of Resistance Spread Across China,” “Sparks of Resistance Shine in Qing Shui,” and “Welcoming the Dawn of Liberation.”

After the July 7th Incident in 1937, the people of Qing Shui expressed great indignation and hatred toward the atrocities committed by Japanese imperialism in invading China and massacring fellow countrymen, giving rise to a vigorous anti-Japanese salvation movement.

In early 1938, after Japan occupied Kaifeng, students from Henan, Shanxi, Anhui, and other regions who had fled westward gathered in Xi’an. Fearing that students would head to Yan’an, the Nationalist government set up checkpoints along the way to intercept them. Hu Zongnan dispatched some students to Tianshui, where the “Gansu Provincial Relief Committee for Student Victims of Disaster Areas” was established at the Tianshui Mint. The students were subjected to military-style management. Soon, the “Committee” was renamed “Longyu Public School.” By the end of the same year, the school moved to Qing Shui and was renamed “Gansu Provincial Second Middle School,” and in April 1939, it became the National Tenth Middle School.

The students, having lost their homes and suffering oppression by the Nationalist authorities, faced further mistreatment. Upon arriving in Qing Shui, the reactionary school principal Xu Fengxi arbitrarily withheld students’ food allowances, leading to starvation and even causing the deaths of over 50 students. This incident sparked intense outrage among the students, triggering a student protest.

On May 3, 1940, all students launched a general strike and subsequently formed a student self-governing association consisting of nine members. On the 20th, negotiations between the Nationalist Tianshui Special Administrative Region and the students broke down. On the evening of the 22nd, Lu Zhian, director of the Qing Shui Telegraph Bureau and an underground Communist Party member, distributed leaflets in parks and streets urging students to strengthen discipline, unite closely, and pay attention to struggle strategy.

In early June, the Nationalist authorities dispatched troops to surround National Tenth Middle School and immediately arrested 57 student representatives. Thereafter, leaders of the protest and student representatives were either imprisoned, placed on wanted lists, or sent to the Lanzhou Labor Camp. Some were expelled from Tianshui or forced to withdraw from school. The vigorous protest was suppressed.

At the end of 1940, the Eighth Route Army Xi’an Office sent Communist Party member Zhou Zhenzhong to National Tenth Middle School to carry out underground activities under the guise of an English teacher. After arriving at the school, Zhou extensively interacted with students, founded publications, and established groups such as the “Encourage Learning Reading Club” to study and discuss various philosophical and anti-Japanese theoretical issues. They also published wall newspapers, columns, and short essays, satires, poems irregularly, taught anti-Japanese songs, organized performances, and held public shows to inspire revolutionary spirit and solidify confidence in victory. In the spring of 1942, the entire school went to rural areas to promote the resistance and raise funds to support frontline soldiers. The student self-governing association regularly organized artistic evenings with anti-Japanese salvation themes, performed resistance songs, and staged plays such as *Zhang Zizhong* and *Thunderstorm*, awakening and inspiring the patriotism and fighting spirit of the masses.

According to statistics, during the arduous eight-year War of Resistance, the people of Qing Shui either went to the front lines to fight or contributed money and labor in strong support. A total of 9,696 outstanding young men joined the army, accounting for a quarter of the county’s labor force, among whom 59 sacrificed their lives for the country. A total of 10.295 million jin of military grain was requisitioned, in addition to taxes and public education grain, averaging 3.607 million jin per year. Civil labor totaling 93,211 person-times was mobilized to help transport military supplies, build fortifications, evacuate the wounded, and deliver ammunition. Despite the modest economic conditions at the time, the county mobilized donations of funds and materials to support the war effort, raising a total of 16.423 million yuan (in fiat currency). They donated 10,000 sheepskins, 10,000 hemp shoes, 4,000 cloth socks, 200 wool vests, 450 cotton-padded jackets, and cut down walnut trees to make 60,000 gunstocks, making an indelible contribution to the final victory of the War of Resistance.

The Qing Shui Anti-Japanese Salvation Memorial was designated as a Gansu Provincial Patriotic Education Base by the Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department in 2013.