Former Site of the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office

　　The former site of the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office is situated at No. 28, Lianglukou, Zhaoling West Road, Shuangqing District, Shaoyang City. Originally established in Changsha, the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office—also known as the Communication Office of the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army in Hunan—was relocated due to the escalating war situation. In October 1938, after Guangzhou and Wuhan fell successively to Japanese forces, Hunan found itself under threat from both front and rear. Following the burning of Changsha by the Hunan Provincial Party Department in mid-November, the provincial government moved to Leiyang, while the provincial party headquarters relocated to Yuanling, leaving Changsha in chaos. Under these circumstances, to preserve revolutionary forces and continue leading the anti-Japanese salvation movement across the province, as well as to establish an anti-Japanese salvation base centered in southwestern Hunan with Shaoyang as its hub, the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office—under the direction of comrades such as [redacted] and [redacted]—relocated from Changsha to Shaoyang in late November 1938. It was stationed at the Zeng Family Courtyard at Lianglukou, outside Dongmen of Shaoyang County (now Shaoyang City), Huilan Street. At the same time, other organizations and groups also moved to Shaoyang, including the Hunan Provincial Working Committee of the Communist Party, the Changsha Municipal Committee, the Provincial Youth Committee, the Cultural Anti-Enemy Support Association, the Chinese National Liberation Vanguard, the Observation Daily newspaper office, Chongshi Girls' School, and the Children's Anti-Enemy Work Troupe of Yuying. Over 100 outstanding Party cadres and leaders, such as Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian), [redacted], Xu Teli, Wang Lingbo, Ren Zuomin, Gao Wenhua, Yang Difu, Shuai Mengqi, Nie Hongjun, Guo Guangzhou, Wang Tao, Yuan Xuezhi, Cai Shubin, and Li Rui, came to Shaoyang. Using the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office as a cover, they engaged in anti-Japanese salvation and revolutionary activities. The work of the communication office was overseen by comrades such as Xu Teli and Wang Lingbo.

　　 The work carried out by the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office in Shaoyang included: first, shielding the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party in carrying out its revolutionary activities. In February 1939, the Provincial Working Committee held its first expanded meeting here (also referred to at the time as the Provincial Party Meeting), attended by over 30 key representatives of underground Party organizations from across the province. At the meeting, Bo Gu and Gao Wenhua conveyed the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party. Discussions centered on the question, “Now that Wuhan has fallen, what should we do?” The revolutionary policy of “persisting in resistance, opposing surrender; persisting in unity, opposing division; persisting in progress, opposing retrogression” was reaffirmed. Through elections, the “Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party” was officially established, with seven committee members, two alternate members, and Gao Wenhua appointed as the provincial party secretary. Committee members included Guo Guangzhou, Ren Zuomin, Xu Teli, Nie Hongjun, Cai Shubin, and Wang Tao, while alternate members were Shuai Mengqi (female) and Yuan Xuezhi. After this meeting, the Hunan Provincial Committee held three training sessions for party backbone members on the upper floor of the communication office, with around ten participants in each session. These were underground party cadres selected from Shaoyang, Xiangxiang, Hengyang, Xupu, Ningxiang, Yiyang, and Yueyang. Classes were taught by figures such as Xu Teli and Wang Lingbo, covering topics such as “The Nature of the Party,” “On Protracted War,” “The Mass Line,” and “Guerrilla Tactics.” The training lasted approximately three months. Students were prohibited from going out, contacting the outside world, or asking each other’s names or inquiring about others’ backgrounds. After completing their studies, they were dispatched to various combat positions.

　　Second, the office provided strong support for the anti-Japanese salvation activities of various anti-Japanese organizations and groups. At the time, organizations and groups that moved to Shaoyang along with the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office—including the Changsha Municipal Committee, the Provincial Youth Committee, the Cultural Anti-Enemy Support Association, the Chinese National Liberation Vanguard, the Observation Daily newspaper office, and Chongshi Girls' School—actively carried out anti-Japanese salvation activities with the support of the communication office. The Hunan Provincial Committee’s official newspaper, Observation Daily, used the communication office’s radio station to receive and publish anti-Japanese news from across the country, especially from Yan’an, as well as domestic and international news. This greatly boosted the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of all sectors of society. Other organizations and groups organized propaganda teams, work teams, singing troupes, and drama troupes to take to the streets and rural areas, spreading the Party’s anti-Japanese national salvation message and mobilizing the public to support the war effort, raising over two thousand silver dollars in donations. Before the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office relocated to Shaoyang, the renowned historian Lü Zhenyu, commissioned by the Hunan Provincial Working Committee, had founded the “Tangtian Wartime College” in Tangtian Temple, Wugang (now part of Shaoyang County)—effectively the “Southern Counterpart of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University.” After the relocation of the communication office to Shaoyang, it provided substantial support to the college in terms of teaching staff, organizational management, and anti-Japanese information. Especially when the college was forcibly disbanded by the Kuomintang authorities in April 1939, the communication office offered strong support—on one hand, contesting with the Kuomintang authorities to reduce pressure on the college, and on the other hand, helping to evacuate personnel to preserve as much revolutionary strength as possible.

　　Third, the office engaged in resolute struggle against reactionary forces. In the winter of 1938, after Wang Jingwei defected to the enemy, people from all walks of life in Shaoyang held an “Anti-Wang and Anti-Traitor” rally at Huoshen Temple (now within Zijiang Primary School). Xu Teli, senior advisor to the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office, delivered an impassioned speech at the event, fiercely exposing and denouncing Wang Jingwei’s treasonous crimes. At the same time, he explained in simple terms the certainty of victory in the anti-Japanese war, greatly boosting the people’s morale for resistance. On June 12, 1939, the die-hard faction of the Kuomintang orchestrated the “Pingjiang Massacre.” Elders such as Comrade Xu issued statements such as “In Memory of Martyrs Xu Zhengkun, Luo Zimin, and Others Who Died” under the name “Colleagues of the 18th Group Army’s Hunan Communication Office,” solemnly condemning the reactionary elements for sabotaging the united front, undermining the anti-Japanese salvation movement, and murdering revolutionary comrades. Additionally, the office conducted extensive principled and justified struggles against the Kuomintang’s censorship of progressive publications and bookstores. These efforts played a significant role in promoting the anti-Japanese salvation movement.

　　In early August 1939, the Ninth War Zone of the Kuomintang issued an order to the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office stating, “There is no need for an office in the central region of Hunan; cease operations immediately.” Due to increasing pressure from the die-hard faction, and after seeking instructions from the central leadership, the office ceased operations in Shaoyang on August 11. Only Xu Teli and Wang Lingbo remained, continuing daily work under the titles of Eighth Route Army representative in Hunan and secretary of the Eighth Route Army headquarters, respectively. The remaining personnel were reassigned to work in Guilin, Chongqing, and other places. In October of the same year, Xu Teli and Wang Lingbo left Shaoyang and moved to Hengyang, marking the end of the office’s operations in Shaoyang.

　　Although the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office was stationed in Shaoyang for only a short year, it wrote a glorious chapter in the history of China’s national democratic revolution. To promote patriotism, commemorate the revolutionary predecessors, and educate future generations, the Shaoyang Municipal People’s Government designated the “Former Site of the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office” as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit on November 14, 1985. A “Preparatory Group for the Restoration of the Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office Former Site” was established to carry out initial renovations. By the end of 1988, the “Eighth Route Army's Hunan Communication Office Memorial Hall” was officially opened to the public. In May 1997, the Propaganda Department of the Shaoyang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party designated the site as a Shaoyang Municipal Patriotic Education Base. In 2002, the Hunan Provincial People’s Government listed it as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.