Travel Notes | Chongqing Zhazidong and Bai Mansion

Zhazi Cave is surrounded by mountains on three sides and a ditch on one side, so its location is relatively hidden. In 1939, the Kuomintang military reunification agents set up a prison here. It is divided into inner and outer courtyards. The outer courtyard houses the secret service office, torture room, etc. The 16 rooms on the first floor and bottom of the inner courtyard are male prisons, and two bungalows are female prisons.

Bai Gongguan was originally the villa of Sichuan warlord Bai Ju, also known as "Xiangshan Villa". Bai Ju became the commander of the First Division of the 20th Army of the National Revolutionary Army on May 5, 1927, and belonged to Yang Sen's subordinates. Because Bai Ju boasted that he was a descendant of Bai Juyi, he used Bai Juyi's name "Xiangshan" and named his villa "Xiangshan Villa". In 1939, the military leader Dai Li bought it with a lot of money and established a secret service here. In 1943, the Bai Mansion was changed to the third guest house of the "China-US Cooperation Institute" and later to the first prison cell of the China-US Cooperation Institute. At the end of 1946, all the detainees in Zhazidong were escorted to Bai Gongguan, and it officially became a prison for revolutionaries.

Detained here are revolutionaries arrested after the "June 1st" mass arrest case, the "Little Chinese Revolution" case, the "Advance Report" case, and the three failed armed uprisings in Shandong and Xiadong, such as Jiang Zhujun, Xu Jianye, He Xuesong, etc. There were more than 300 people at that time, and "Little Luobotou" and his family once lived here. On November 27, 1949, on the eve of their escape, Kuomintang agents planned a massacre that shocked China and the world. Only 15 people escaped. There are literary and artistic works such as "Eternal Life in Fire", "Red Rock" and "Sister Jiang" based on this model.

From a landscape perspective, the White Mansion in Zhazidong is nothing. Most of them are exhibition boards, but it has a strong educational significance. Today, China cannot do without these heroes and martyrs imprisoned in the White Mansion in Zhazidong. Their tenacious will is worth learning from. .

I end with an excerpt from "Red Rock": A journey of iron and blood, ambitious children, righteousness and courage build the towering Great Wall, protecting the motherland and ensuring peace. No matter in the days of war or the years of peace, it is you who allow all brothers and sisters to live peacefully. With you, our lives are without fear.