Wuchang Uprising Gate · Shouyi Square

October 10, 1911 Wuchang Uprising of the Xinhai Revolution: former site of the Wuchang Uprising Military Government (the Red Building, "Military Government of the Republic of China, Hubei Military Governor's Office"), Uprising Gate (former Zhonghe Gate), Shouyi Culture Park; bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing's commander-appointment platform. On the night of October 10, 1911, a gunshot on the walls of Wuchang opened the Xinhai Revolution; the insurgent troops stormed the Huguang Viceroy's office overnight, and the next day the "Military Government of the Republic of China, Hubei Military Governor's Office" was founded here—so the Red Building, a two-story brick-and-wood Western-style structure, became the birthplace of the end of two thousand years of imperial rule. Uprising Gate stands on the site of Zhonghe Gate of the Wuchang city wall built during the Ming Hongwu era, from inside and outside which the New Army's engineering battalion rose in response that night; on Shouyi Square the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen stands solemn, and the site of Huang Xing's commander-appointment platform records the moment the revolutionary army's commander-in-chief took command in a time of crisis. The Red Building now houses the Wuchang Uprising Memorial Museum of the 1911 Revolution, free to visit, and together with Shouyi Square and Uprising Gate forms the "Shouyi Culture Zone"—a must-visit for grasping the turning point of modern China.

Getting there: Metro Line 4, Shouyi Road Station