Site of the Former Generalissimo's Headquarters

Site of the Former Generalissimo's Headquarters

The Site of the Former Generalissimo's Headquarters is located within the Huiyu Hospital in Shilong Town, Dongguan City. The hospital was built in 1902 and was one of the few well-known charitable hospitals in Guangdong during the 1920s. Covering an area of approximately 4,000 square meters, it is just 30 meters away from the Shilong Chamber of Commerce.

On March 2, 1923, Sun Yat-sen established the Generalissimo’s Headquarters (also known as the Generalissimo’s Office) in Guangzhou, marking his third time setting up a government in the city. Although the headquarters was originally based in Guangzhou, due to military needs, it was relocated to Shilong, Dongguan, on several occasions.

In June 1922, Chen Jiongming, Commander-in-Chief of the Guangdong Army, openly rebelled against the revolution. In May 1923, Yang Kunru and Hong Zhaolin, former rebel forces who had been reintegrated, rebelled again. Sun Yat-sen ordered Liu Zhenhuan of the Guangxi Army and Hu Sixun of the Yunnan Army, commanding over ten thousand troops, to attack Boluo and Huizhou. On May 30, he personally went to Shilong to oversee the battle and set up a field headquarters at Shilong Railway Station. From then on, Sun Yat-sen visited Shilong multiple times to plan and direct battles. On June 4 of that year, he returned to Shilong. The people of Shilong welcomed him at the Huiyu Hospital on Beidi Water Street. Sun Yat-sen took a commemorative photo with the welcoming delegates in front of the main entrance of the hospital and also posed with his guard commander and a staff officer of the headquarters. In July, Sun Yat-sen moved the headquarters to the Huiyu Hospital in Shilong.

Shilong is less than 100 kilometers from Huizhou along the Dong River. To attack Huizhou to the east, one had to pass through Boluo County or Huiyang County. For convenience in command, Sun Yat-sen often traveled by warship early in the morning and returned late at night, sometimes staying aboard the ship, effectively turning it into his mobile office. The warship usually anchored on the south bank of the main course of the Dong River, about several hundred meters from the Huiyu Hospital. On the opposite bank of where the warship docked was an airfield built for the campaign against Chen Jiongming.

Due to intense fighting, more seriously wounded soldiers were transported to Shilong. As field hospitals were insufficient, they were often sent to the Huiyu Hospital, which temporarily functioned as a battlefield medical facility. Sun Yat-sen frequently visited the wounded at the Huiyu Hospital and held meetings there. On August 6, 1923, he summoned Yang Ximin, Commander-in-Chief of the Yunnan Army, to Shilong to discuss military affairs. On the 23rd, he called on Xu Chongzhi, Commander-in-Chief of the Guangdong Army, to the same location to develop battle strategies. In September, the main force of Chen Jiongming’s rebel army returned from southern Fujian to reinforce Huizhou, forcing the lifting of the siege on Huicheng. Sun Yat-sen had no choice but to move the headquarters back to Guangzhou from Shilong.

On November 12, rebel forces under Hong Zhaolin and Yang Kunru captured Shilong. Sun Yat-sen withdrew the headquarters and the field headquarters to Shitan, Zengcheng. The town was retaken on the 20th, prompting Sun Yat-sen to move the headquarters back to Shilong. In August 1924, when the Guangzhou Merchants’ Corps rebelled, Sun Yat-sen was compelled to leave Shilong and return to Guangzhou to suppress the uprising. The headquarters and field headquarters were also evacuated at the same time.

In October 1924, after the Guangzhou Merchants’ Corps Rebellion was quelled, Sun Yat-sen returned to Shilong, and the headquarters and field headquarters were re-established there. In November, he traveled north to Beijing for negotiations with warlords. Sun Yat-sen passed away in Beijing on March 12, 1925. On March 25, 1925, news reports stated that the Yunnan Army Command, along with the headquarters and field headquarters, had moved out of the Huiyu Hospital. On July 1, the National Government of the Republic of China was officially established, replacing the Generalissimo’s Headquarters.

During the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War, the Huiyu Hospital was damaged several times amid the turmoil of battle. In 1948, the Mingluntang, a local civil organization in Dongguan, officially took over the hospital and allocated funds for its reconstruction, designating it as a public hospital. In October 1949, the hospital was taken over by the Dongguan County Military Control Committee and renamed “Shilong People’s Hospital.”

Shilong Town: An ancient and beautiful geomantic treasure where the northern and southern branches of the meandering Dong River converge — forming a locale of three docks along one river: Shilong.

Shilong is bordered by Guangzhou to the north, Shenzhen to the south, and adjacent to Hong Kong. It lies 69 kilometers from Guangzhou and 78 kilometers from Shenzhen, and has long been an important port along the Dong River waterway.

With a history of 800 years, Shilong has been inhabited since the Song Dynasty. Thanks to the Dong River flowing through the region, the town enjoyed exceptional shipping convenience and had already become a key town in Lingnan by the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. In an era dominated by water transport, Shilong emerged as a vital hub and strategic throat of the Dong River transportation network... More details about Shilong Town ++