Red Tour

Nanchang Uprising Museum

(crienglish.com)
Updated: 2010-09-26 16:44

In a building that was known as the Jiangxi Grand Hotel, communist army troops, led by the military strategist Zhu De and the insuperable Zhou Enlai, were to found the general headquarters of the August 1st, 1927 Uprising. The building, on Zhongshan Road, near the intersection with Shengli Road, was convenient for its central location. Historically, this uprising was important for its founding of the People's Liberation Army that was much later to help defeat the Japanese and the Nationalists (Guomindang), and help in the foundation of the Communist rule. The party and the gun were combined.

In 1957 the building was declared as the August 1st Uprising Museum (Bayi jinianguan), with the first mayor of Shanghai, the pragmatic Marshal Chen Yi, inscribing the name of the museum on a plaque at the front. Most of the exhibits are held on the first and second floor and contain a musty collection of old furniture, weapons, pictures and the history of the uprising, unfortunately all in Chinese. The building itself, however, is one of Nanchang's nicest relics, and has been little restored since 1950.