Site of former headquarter of China Defense League, National resistance memorial site in Chongqing, China

The former China Defense League headquarters is a protected compound in central Chongqing with several preserved structures dating from the Second World War era. The buildings contain work areas, archives, and living quarters that show how this command center was organized and operated.

The headquarters was established in 1938 in response to Japanese invasion and served as the key operational center for Chinese resistance in southwestern China until 1945. The site represents the organized effort of a nation to defend its independence against military aggression.

The site reveals how local and international actors worked together during wartime and the networks of personal relationships that formed. The displayed objects and documents show the human side of this cooperation and how people conducted daily life during the conflict.

The residence stands at No. 5 Xincun Road in Yuzhong District, central Chongqing. The exhibition opened in April 1993, closed for renovation in November 2012 and reopened in July 2013. The gateway in the photograph is set back from the street behind a cream wall with a dark plaque, so look for the narrow tiled passage rather than a large entrance.

The building was put up in 1937 as the home of Yang Nengshen, a student who had studied in Germany, and its German-style brick-and-timber construction is why it looks unlike its neighbours. The Nationalist Government requisitioned it after moving the capital to Chongqing, and Song Qingling moved in only in 1942, staying until 1945.