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.

things to do museum
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.

Other places in Things to Do