Chongqing’s Zazidong and Bai Gongguan

　　    Introduction: Zazidong is situated at the foot of Geleshan in Chongqing, about 2.5 kilometers from Bai Gongguan. Originally a small, manually excavated coal mine, it got its name because it produced more slag than coal. In 1939, military intelligence agents forced the mine owner to death, seized the mine and the miners’ residences, and converted the site into a prison. Bai Gongguan was originally a suburban villa owned by Sichuan warlord Bai Ju. After the establishment of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization in 1943, Bai Gongguan was temporarily used as a guesthouse for American military personnel in China. By 1945, it was repurposed as a special detention center and began holding prisoners again. By the time of liberation, in addition to over twenty “political prisoners” transferred from the disbanded Xifeng Prison—such as Huang Xiansheng and Xu Xiaoxuan—there were also thirty detainees held on behalf of the Second Detention House of the Second Office of the Chongqing Military Command, including Liu Guozhi, Zhou Conghua, Zhou Junshi, and Zhang Zeihou. Bai Gongguan was originally a suburban villa of Sichuan warlord Bai Ju. In 1939, Dai Li, the head of the military intelligence, selected it as a directly affiliated detention center under the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters for the sake of confidentiality in interrogating and detaining prisoners.

　　     Chongqing’s Shapingba District