Chuo Yuan Aircraft Shelter

Chuo Yuan Aircraft Shelter

Chuo Yuan Aircraft Shelter

Located 147 kilometers from the urban area of Yakeshi and within the operational zone of the Chuo Yuan Forest Farm, it is a military project built during World War II under the Japanese puppet regime. In 1942, as the international anti-fascist campaign achieved successive victories and the defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan became inevitable, the stubborn Japanese invaders continued their desperate resistance. To defend against attacks by the powerful Soviet Red Army and protect their interests in the Far East, the Kwantung Army forcibly conscripted over a thousand laborers from counties such as Lindian and Yi’an in Heilongjiang Province to construct an airfield and hangars here. The hangars were built along the mountain, with 18 completed in total. Each hangar is semi-circular in shape, constructed of reinforced concrete, and relatively small in size—each could only house one small fighter plane. The airfield runway is 800 meters long and 50 meters wide. Before the entire construction was completed, Japan had already been defeated in the war. After more than 50 years of wind and rain erosion, some hangars have collapsed, while others are overgrown with weeds. It is said that at the time, the laborers worked under bayonets and whips, with insufficient clothing and food, to build these hangars, and were later all killed by the Japanese army. These remaining ruins of the project are not only a profound humiliation for the Chinese nation and irrefutable evidence of the Japanese invasion of China, but also a solemn warning for future generations. This site serves as an excellent base for patriotic education.