Entity
Suizhou Xuegong Hall
Suizhou, Hubei, China
In the autumn of 1934, builders in Suizhou began mixing imported Western cement and assembling steel frames to construct a modern landmark. Commissioned by General He Chengjun, a local military figure who used the alias Xuegong, this 2,500-square-meter assembly hall rose as the centerpiece of the private Lieshan Middle School. Prominent national figures, including Zhang Xueliang and Yan Xishan, sent funds to support the construction. Completed in 1935, the building combined a single-story brick-and-wood central auditorium with two-story brick-and-concrete wings. Its European missionary style featured pointed roofs, arched doorways, and decorative railings that cast long, geometric shadows across the schoolyard.
The structure absorbed the turbulent sounds of twentieth-century China. In the winter of 1937, the dramatist Hong Shen stood on the wooden stage inside the hall, directing the patriotic play Lay Down Your Whip to stir anti-Japanese sentiment. Following the fall of Nanjing in December of that year, the literary translator Ye Junjian, then an English teacher at the school, stood on the outdoor stage behind the hall. He spoke to a crowd of students gathered under a half-mast flag in the cold morning fog, their voices rising to sing patriotic songs before they marched into the streets.
The building survived these upheavals. In 1984, local authorities restored the original name and repaired the structure. Today, the hall stands at No. 299 Lieshan Avenue, preserved within the campus of Suizhou Zengdu Experimental Middle School. The building remains a quiet observer of Hubei's educational history, its arched corridors still echoing with the footsteps of generations of students.