Chongqing City Tour Packages
General Joseph W. Stilwel Museum
The General Joseph W.
Stilwell Museum is situated in the Yuzhong Region of
Chongqing, and occupies an area of 7.2 mu (about 1.2
acres). It was founded in memory of Joseph W. Stilwell,
an American general who contributed a great deal to the
Chinese people. Since the museum opened to the public in
1991, tens of thousands of visitors from home and
overseas have been there. William Pace, a former
American Secretary of Defense, made a special trip to
the museum in 1994 and was greatly touched by how well
it had been preserved. Although it has been restored and
enlarged several times, the style of it has not been
changed.
In 1942, during the Second World War, General Joseph W.
Stilwell acted under orders to come to Chongqing. He
worked as Chief of Staff in the China Theater of
Operations and as the Commander-in-Chief of the American
Army in the China Burma India Theater (CBI). The
residence became the headquarters of the China Burma
India Theater during that period. General Stilwell
participated in a series of political and military
affairs in the CBI Theatre of World Warâ…¡, and cemented a
profound friendship with the Chinese people fighting
side-by-side in the Anti-Fascist War in China. In July
1944, campaigns in Northern Burma succeeded and a road
between India and China was built under his direct
supervision, which made ammunitions and weapons
accessible to China and brought an end to the blockade
of the fascist state. The road was later named Joseph W.
Stilwell Road. President Roosevelt recalled General
Stilwell to Washington in 1944.
The main building of the museum is the former residence
of General Joseph W. Stilwell. It is a three-storied
house, including an office,an adjutant room, two meeting
rooms, bedrooms and a basement. Simple furniture is
shown as it was during the time that he lived there, and
more than one hundred articles such as household goods,
manuscripts and the uniform which was used by the
general are displayed. In the residence's courtyard, a
monument stands in the center on which is engraved a
passage of epigraph in both English and Chinese. The
epigraph was written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on May
17, 1944. There is a bust of General Joseph W. Stilwell
to one side of the monument, which gives visitors a
vivid portrait of this great general.
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