Zhong'an Steamer Disaster Martyrs Memorial Hall

　　   The Su-Zhe Military Region was established on January 13, 1945, with Su Yu as commander and Ye Fei as deputy commander. A portion of its affiliated forces consisted of soldiers from central and southern Jiangsu, such as those from Taixing. In the autumn of 1945, in order to avoid civil war and strive for peace, the Chinese Communist Party decided to relinquish eight revolutionary bases in Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, and southern Anhui. In late September, officers and soldiers of the Su-Zhe Military Region and cadres from the Su-Zhe-An border base area were ordered to retreat north of the Yangtze River. On October 15, nearly 1,000 personnel—including part of the Fourth Column of the Su-Zhe Military Region participating in the northward withdrawal, as well as some cadres and laborers from the southern Jiangsu base area—boarded the “Zhong’an” steamer at Yisha in Wujin County to cross the river to Taixing. Due to the steamer’s age, leaking from the hull, and being overloaded with personnel and supplies, it unfortunately sank in the Yangtze River approximately 2 kilometers southwest of Tianxingqiao. Over 800 people lost their lives, including Wei Yiping (former secretary of the Taixing County Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party), political department deputy director of the Su-Zhe Cadre School Wang Shaojie, finance director of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office Li Jianmo, county magistrate of Liyang County Xu Gonglu, reconnaissance chief of the Fourth Column headquarters Peng An, organizational chief of the Fourth Column political department Wu Zhicheng, propaganda chief Wang Yi, and deputy chief Situ Yang.