Crab Hill Fort

Crab Hill Fort

Crab Hill Fort is located within Crab Hill Park on Gangqian Road, Yuzhu Street, Huangpu District, Guangzhou. Built in the summer of 1885 during the 11th year of the Guangxu reign in the Qing Dynasty, it was constructed under the decree of Governor-General of Liangguang Zhang Shusheng and others to strengthen the defenses of Changzhou Fortress as the Sino-French War came to an end. The fort still retains features such as gateway alleys, passageways, troop hiding caves, and gun emplacements. The top of the gateway alley has been destroyed, leaving only the part below the stone lintel. The stone lintel is inscribed in intaglio with the three characters “Crab Hill Fort” (蟹山台), and above it in smaller intaglio characters is the line “The first day of early summer in the 11th year of the Guangxu reign,” while below is inscribed “Supervised by Zhang, Governor-General of Liangguang by Imperial Appointment; Ni, Governor of Guangdong by Imperial Appointment; Deng Anbang, Named Commander and Acting Commander of Guangzhou Garrison, Known as Brave Batyr Ruiyong; Designed and Supervised by Chen Qixi, Holding the Rank of Deputy Magistrate.” The passageway is 15 meters long and 2.32 meters high, with three ventilation holes at the upper end. The two troop hiding caves are similar in structure, about 6.1 meters long and 3.08 meters wide. The gun emplacement is elliptical, with the wider east-west orientation measuring 16.3 meters. The depth of the gun emplacement increases from the gun muzzle position toward the base, ranging from 0.8 meters to 1.28 meters, providing a rational center of gravity and smooth rotation. There is a reinforced concrete structure above the gun emplacement, though its construction date is unknown. In the summer of 1922, Chen Jiongming used this fort to bombard Sun Yat-sen’s presidential ship, the Yongfeng, anchored in the Pearl River waters near Changzhou, and also crossed the river from Crab Hill and Yuzhu areas to attack Changzhou, forcing Sun Yat-sen’s fleet to retreat from Changzhou to Guangzhou’s White Goose Pool. To commemorate Sun Yat-sen’s ordeal, Hu Hanmin, Chen Ce, and others turned Crab Hill into Zhongshan Park. The original “Monument to President Sun’s Ordeal” (先大总统孙公蒙难碑), written by Lin Zhimian and inscribed by Hu Hanmin, which had been placed next to the fort in the park, has been destroyed. Zhongshan Park was later renamed Huangpu Park and is now Crab Hill Park. Crab Hill Fort was equipped with German Krupp breech-loading long-range cannons. In the early 1950s, the original cannons were moved to Guangzhou Museum on Yuexiu Mountain for exhibition. Today, the rotating tracks and iron rings can still be seen at the bottom of the gun emplacement.

Yuzhu Subdistrict: Yuzhu Street is located in the western part of Huangpu District, covering the area: east to Lixiang Road, west to the area east of Shencong Stream, south bordering the Pearl River, and north to Guangzhou Rare Earth Co., Ltd.

II. Area

The administrative area spans 9.11 square kilometers, including 700 mu of arable land and 1,120 mu of mountainous forest land.

III. Population

It governs 9 community resident committees and 164 resident groups. As of the end of 2009, the registered population was 26,455.

IV. The Origin of Yuzhu

Yuzhu Subdistrict originated from… More detailed information about Yuzhu Subdistrict++