Liaoshen Campaign Memorial Hall

The Liaoshen Campaign Memorial Hall commemorates the 1948 battle that effectively decided the Chinese Civil War, fought largely around Jinzhou itself. The museum documents the fifty-two-day operation in which the People's Liberation Army under Lin Biao encircled and destroyed the Nationalist forces in Manchuria, a campaign that opened the road to Beijing and ultimately to the establishment of the People's Republic.

The museum is serious and well-funded, with tactical maps, military equipment, and personal accounts from participants on both sides. Admission is free with a passport. Outside the building a courtyard displays period artillery, aircraft, and armoured vehicles from the 1940s. The memorial is in the south of the city and is walkable from the city centre; it takes about two hours to go through properly.

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A story
The Liaoshen Campaign lasted fifty-two days in the autumn of 1948. When it ended, the Communist forces had destroyed the Nationalist army in Manchuria entirely, capturing 470,000 soldiers. Chiang Kai-shek had committed his best troops to hold the northeast; losing them left him without the resources to defend the rest of China. The campaign is considered the battle that made the Communist victory in the Civil War inevitable.