Xiawei Wenchang Pavilion

Xiawei Wenchang Pavilion

The former site of the underground transportation and liaison station of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Northern Guangdong and the Houdong Special Committee is located at Xiawei Wenchang Pavilion in Shuibei Village, Laolong Town, Longchuan County.

In October 1938, after the Japanese army occupied Guangzhou, the Guangdong Provincial Committee relocated its headquarters to Shaoguan (the Provincial Committee was dissolved in November 1940, and replaced by the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Northern Guangdong and the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Southern Guangdong). To strengthen the Party’s leadership in Longchuan, the Provincial Committee dispatched Li Jianxing and Zhang Fenglou to work in Laolong while carrying out anti-Japanese salvation activities. In late November of the same year, Rao Zhangfeng, head of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Committee, arrived in Laolong to convey the Committee’s directives and guide the work of the Longchuan Party organization. Under Rao’s direction, a meeting was held under the “Chastity Archway” on Xiaoshan Hill at Xianggongling in Laolong, establishing the Longchuan County Provisional Working Committee. Huang Ci’kuan was appointed secretary of the Provisional County Committee, while Li Jianxing and Zhang Fenglou served as heads of the Organization and Propaganda Departments, respectively. To spur the anti-Japanese salvation movement in Longchuan, the “Provisional Working Committee” used Liantang Primary School (Wenchang Temple) as a base for conducting anti-Japanese propaganda and activities. Under the name of the Longchuan People’s Anti-Enemy Support Association, the publication Longchuan Daily was launched. In late December, Yin Linping, Standing Committee Member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Military Commission, arrived in Laolong to guide work. Presided over by Yin, a meeting of the County Provisional Working Committee was held at Liantang Primary School to convey directives from the Provincial Committee, and it was decided to upgrade the Provisional County Working Committee to a County Party Committee.

After the dissolution of the Provincial Committee in November 1940 and the establishment of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Northern Guangdong, the latter sent Liang Weilin to Longchuan to form the Houdong Special Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Eastern Guangdong. After the establishment of the Houdong Special Committee, the Longchuan Central County Committee was dissolved, and the new Special Committee oversaw the County Committees of Longchuan, Wuhua, Heping, Heyuan, Zijin, and Xinfeng, as well as the Party Working Committee of Lianping. At the same time, the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Northern Guangdong assigned Lan Xuncai to take up the post of Head of the Underground Transportation and Liaison Station of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Northern Guangdong stationed in Laolong. Disguised as the manager of the “Starlight Dyeing and Weaving Factory” inside the Huang Ancestral Hall in Shuibei, he connected with the counties under the Houdong Special Committee and carried out revolutionary activities together with the leaders of the Special Committee.

Secret bases for the activities of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, the Guangdong Provincial Committee of Northern Guangdong, the Houdong Special Committee, and the Longchuan County Committee were located at Wenchang Pavilion (temple) within Liantang Primary School in Shuibei. In May 1938, when the Guangdong Provincial Committee assigned Mai Wen to Longchuan to rebuild the Party organization, Mai mostly stayed at Liantang Primary School, where the Longchuan Branch Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was established. In August 1939, the Longchuan Central County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (covering Wuhua, Longchuan, and Heping) was also established at Wenchang Pavilion.

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