Donghu Guesthouse

During the Anti-Japanese War, it served as a transit hub in the Secret Rescue of Hong Kong. The former site of the Dongguan Transit Hub in the Secret Rescue of Hong Kong is located at No. 70 Shangbantang, Qiaodong Subdistrict, Huicheng District, in the Donghu Guesthouse. In October 1938, Huizhou fell to Japanese occupation. Most guesthouses in Qiaoxi and Qiaodong were burned down, and the original hotels could not resume business. As a result, some wealthy individuals...

Donghu Guesthouse

Donghu Guesthouse

Transit Hub in the Secret Rescue of Hong Kong during the Anti-Japanese War

The former site of the Huizhou Transit Hub in the Secret Rescue of Hong Kong is located at No. 70 Shangbantang, Qiaodong Subdistrict, Huicheng District, in the Donghu Guesthouse. In October 1938, Huizhou fell to Japanese occupation. Most guesthouses in Qiaoxi and Qiaodong were burned down, and the original hotels could not resume business. As a result, some wealthy families converted their surviving houses into guesthouses, and Zhai Yuting turned his Western-style building into the Donghu Guesthouse.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese invaders launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. In October 1938, Japanese forces landed in Daya Bay, occupying Guangdong’s coastal areas and leaving Hong Kong as an isolated island. On December 8, 1941, the Pacific War broke out, and the Japanese immediately occupied Hong Kong. Prior to that, patriotic democrats and cultural figures who had gathered in Hong Kong to promote resistance against Japan became targets of Japanese search and arrest operations. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China instructed Zhou Enlai of the Southern Bureau and Liao Chengzhi, director of the Eighth Route Army Hong Kong Office, among others, to organize the secret rescue of these patriots and cultural figures. Various Party organizations including the CCP Southern Work Committee, the Guangdong People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Forces, the CCP Guangdong Southern Provincial Committee, and the CCP Hong Kong Municipal Committee all participated in this secret rescue mission. Serving as a transit hub, Huizhou played a significant role in the operation.

In January 1942, the secretly rescued cultural figures and patriotic democrats were transferred inland in batches under the protection of local Party organizations and anti-Japanese guerrilla members. On February 14, the first group—including cultural figures such as Mao Dun, Kong Dejun, Pan Hannian, Zhong Yongyi, Liao Mosha, and Han You Tong—traveled from Shaokeng in Huiyang via Yonghu and Sandong to Huizhou. These individuals were secretly accommodated at the Donghu Guesthouse while awaiting the right moment, after which they took boats along the Dongjiang River waterway from Huizhou to Laolong, then continued overland to the rear areas. Later, groups of cultural figures and patriotic democrats, such as Hu Sheng, Hu Feng, Song Zhi, Ge Baoquan, Liu Qingyang, Yu Ling, Yang Gang, Zhang Youyu, and Zou Taofen, also transited through Huizhou on their way to the rear. The Secret Rescue of Hong Kong protected a group of China’s cultural elites and patriotic democrats, marking a remarkable feat in the history of the Chinese revolution.

The well-preserved Donghu Guesthouse played a crucial role in protecting renowned patriots and stands as a witness to Huizhou’s history of rescuing and escorting China’s famous cultural figures. As a base for receiving and escorting patriotic democratic figures and culturally minded patriots, the Donghu Guesthouse holds significant cultural preservation value.