Whampoa Military Academy Memorial Hall 黄埔军校旧址纪念馆

About Whampoa Military Academy Memorial Hall

Whampoa Military Academy Memorial Hall (黄埔军校旧址纪念馆) occupies the first campus of the officer school founded by Sun Yat-sen (孙中山), on Changzhou Island (长洲岛) in the Huangpu District (黄埔区) of Guangzhou (广州).

Changzhou Island sits in the middle of the Pearl River (珠江), ringed by water. The academy was first meant to occupy a site inside the city, but with Yunnan and Guangxi warlords holding Guangzhou, Sun looked for a place that was hard to reach and far from town. The island's forts, together with the Yuzhu (鱼珠) and Shalu (沙路) forts on the banks, commanded the river, and the former Qing army primary school on the island could be reused after light repairs. Sun settled on the island on 28 January 1924.

Teaching started in May 1924 and the opening ceremony took place on 16 June. As enrolment grew, school buildings spread over nearly half of the island. In March 1926 the school took the name Central Military and Political Academy (中央军事政治学校); seven intakes studied here before it moved to Nanjing (南京) in March 1928, and the Guangzhou headquarters stopped teaching in September 1930. Japanese aircraft destroyed most of the buildings after Japan occupied Guangzhou in 1938. The city opened the memorial hall on 16 June 1984, the academy's 60th anniversary. In January 1988 the State Council placed the site on the national list of key protected cultural relics (全国重点文物保护单位), and in 1996 the city rebuilt the headquarters on its original position, scale and appearance.

The main gate is a European-style gateway added in 1924 in front of the old school's ancestral-hall-style entrance; it faces north across the Pearl River and carries the school name written by Tan Yankai (谭延闿). The two-storey brick-and-timber headquarters is built around courtyards and linked galleries, and now holds the academy history exhibition and more than twenty restored rooms, among them the political department, the officers' dining hall and a student dormitory. Other sights on the campus include Sun's former lodging, the 1926 club hall and a swimming pool converted from a dock, whose deep end connects directly with the river.

What to look for

• The 1924 European-style main gate, facing north over the Pearl River (珠江)
• The rebuilt headquarters with its history exhibition and more than twenty restored rooms
• Premier Sun Memorial Room (孙总理纪念室), the old Xuehai Lou (学海楼), where Sun Yat-sen stayed on visits to the school
• The red European-style club (俱乐部) of 1926, whose two-storey auditorium was the academy's largest single building
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Monument (孙总理纪念碑) on Bagua Hill (八卦山), completed in 1930, its stairs and bronze statue shaped like the character "文" (wen, "writing" or "culture")
• Cemetery of the Eastern Expedition dead (东征阵亡将士墓) at Pinggang (平岗), completed in 1926 for 516 fallen soldiers
• Northern Expedition Monument (北伐纪念碑) of 1929, a 10-metre granite obelisk carved with the names of 353 cadets

Location & getting there

Getting to Whampoa Military Academy Memorial Hall

• Search for 黄埔军校旧址纪念馆 with 广州市 and 黄埔区.