Hongyan Revolutionary History Museum, Chongqing

Address: No 52 Hongyan village, Yuzhong district, Chongqing
Opening hours: 9 am to 5 pm
Admission: Free

Hongyan means "Red Rock", derived from the local Danxia landform, characterized by its striking red cliffs.

Following the Marco Polo Bridge incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931–45) escalated into full-scale conflict across China. As the Japanese invasion intensified, the ruling Kuomintang government, along with its ministries, institutions, and enterprises, was forced to relocate to the mountainous city of Chongqing in November 1937. Chongqing thus became the wartime capital of the Nationalist government.

In the autumn of 1938, to strengthen the united resistance against Japanese aggression, the Communist Party of China decided to dissolve the Yangtze Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and establish the Southern Bureau. In January 1939, the Southern Bureau was officially founded in Chongqing. Ms Rao Guomo (1895-1960), who was running a farm in Hongyan village, provided the land and houses to the CPC Southern Bureau, making a significant contribution to safeguarding the Party’s operations.

The Hongyan Revolutionary History Museum is located in Chongqing—the wartime capital of China during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the Far East command center of the World Anti-Fascist War.

It is a national first-class museum and one of the first national-level memorial facilities and historical sites commemorating the war against Japanese aggression.The museum is composed of the Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial, the Chongqing Gele Mountain Revolutionary Memorial, and 42 affiliated revolutionary sites.

The museum has an exhibition area of over 16,000 square meters, featuring three permanent exhibitions and 24 restored displays. It showcases photographs, artworks, historical artifacts, and historical documents and archives. The exhibition highlights the great efforts and remarkable journey of the CPC Southern Bureau during the World Anti-Fascist War and the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, focusing on its role in safeguarding the national united front against Japanese aggression based on cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and in promoting national resistance.