The Former Site of the Eastern Expeditionary Army Political Department (Zongsheng Ancestral Hall) in Wuhua, Guangdong

The Former Site of the Eastern Expeditionary Army Political Department is located at the Zeng Clan Ancestral Hall by the Shizhutang at the Cross Street in Huacheng Town, Wuhua County. The ancestral hall was built in the 14th year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty (1888), initiated by the Zeng clan members, and enshrines 'Zongsheng', the disciple of Confucius, Zeng Shen. It faces south with a width of 12 meters and a depth of 28 meters, covering an area of about 336 square meters. The layout consists of three halls and a horizontal house, with a width of five bays, a hanging mountain tile roof, and rammed earth walls with gray sand. In front of the main gate, there are four square stone columns supporting the beams. The gate is relatively high, with the plaque inscribed with three large characters 'Zongsheng Ancestral Hall', the upper inscription 'Built on the winter solstice of the fourteenth year of Guangxu', and the lower inscription 'Written by the seventy-third generation descendant, Su Jing'. On the front walls of the entrance and the upper hall, there are stone reliefs depicting human stories. The middle hall has four square stone columns and four round stone columns forming a screen, with a stone brick patio. The door walls and hall walls are inlaid with stone relief crafts depicting human stories, which are exquisitely crafted and uniquely composed. In February 1925, during the first Eastern Expedition to subdue the warlord Chen Jiongming, the Political Department was stationed here when they entered Huacheng Town of Wuhua County. The director of the Political Department, Zhou Enlai, lived in the county government staff dormitory not far from here. The Eastern Expeditionary Army widely propagated and mobilized the masses, encouraged the teachers and students of Wuhua Middle School to rise up in revolution, exposed corrupt officials, struck against local tyrants and evil gentry, elected the democratic figure Wen Qifan as the county head, and established the Wuhua County Democratic Revolutionary Government. It is a key cultural relic protection unit of Meizhou City. The building is still well-preserved.