The Story Behind Golmud's General's Building: One Man, One Road, One City, Commanding Respect

When it comes to city landmarks, we think of Beijing's Tiananmen, Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower, Guangzhou's Little Waist, Chongqing's Liberation Monument, etc. These buildings are either steeped in history and culture or soar into the sky with grand scale. But can you imagine a two-story cottage becoming a city's landmark?

This building is called the General's Building, located in a park in Golmud, Qinghai. It has only two floors and is less than ten meters high, yet it was the first modern building in Golmud's history. Originally the office of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway Administration, it was later named in memory of General Mu Shengzhong, who worked there.

Why commemorate this general? This must start with the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the founding of Golmud. Golmud is the largest county-level city in China, located in Haixi Prefecture of Qinghai Province, with a total area of nearly 120,000 square kilometers. "Golmud" is a Mongolian transliteration, also known as Guolimao or Gaermu, meaning "a place with dense rivers." Although human habitation dates back tens of thousands of years, until just over 60 years ago, it was only a geographical concept, not a city.

After the liberation of Tibet, due to the fragile local natural economy and severe food shortages, the central government instructed the Northwest Bureau to form the Tibet Transport Brigade to transport grain into Tibet to alleviate the crisis. General Mu Shengzhong was the person in charge at that time. In 1953 and 1954, he led two grain transport camel caravans, trekking 1,500 kilometers over 54 days, crossing vast Gobi deserts and swamps, climbing over numerous high mountains and deep valleys. At the heavy cost of dozens of porters and 26,000 camels, the grain was finally delivered to Tibet. This made him realize that relying on primitive transportation for long-distance highland transport was not a long-term solution, and he conceived the idea of building the Qinghai-Tibet Highway.

Therefore, after returning to Beijing, General Mu volunteered to build the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. After sending people to survey the feasibility of the route, he again reported to the central government and finally obtained the Premier's approval. On May 11, 1954, Mu Shengzhong led the road construction team, reorganized from the Tibet Transport Brigade, to start building the Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in Golmud. The road-building force, consisting of 19 cadres and over 1,200 migrant workers, overcame numerous difficulties and reached Hoh Xil on July 30. On December 15, the road reached Lhasa. Thus, the entire Golmud-Lhasa section of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, 1,283 kilometers long, was completed in 7 months and 4 days. Under such harsh conditions and at such an astonishing speed, it was truly a miracle.

What does this history have to do with this small building? Because there was no city of Golmud at that time. To facilitate the construction and management of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, an office was built here—the two-story cottage pictured above. It was not only the first building in Golmud but also the place where General Mu Shengzhong lived and worked.

Stepping into the General's Building, we see precious artifacts once used by General Mu and his team. On the walls hang black-and-white photographs reflecting distant times, along with quotes from the general full of resolute vows. Through these simple objects and monochrome photos, we can personally feel the arduous journey of the road-building army pioneering through the Kunlun snow mountains and vast Gobi, and sincerely appreciate the revolutionary spirit and great achievements of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries.

To commemorate this remarkable "Father of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway," Golmud specially built the General's Building Theme Park centered around the building. Inside, there is the Sky Road Memorial Tower commemorating the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with a height of 39.16 meters, symbolizing the sum of the two sky roads' mileage (3,916 kilometers). The park also includes a statue commemorating General Mu Shengzhong, a group sculpture "Soul of Road Construction" reflecting the hard pioneering of the road-building army, a sculpture "Turning Swords into Plowshares" reflecting military reclamation, a sculpture "Lofty Kunlun" reflecting Kunlun culture, and a sculpture "Harmony" reflecting ethnic unity.

Golmud was born from the road and thrives because of it. It has now grown into the second-largest city in Qinghai Province after the provincial capital Xining, with crisscrossing streets and rows of high-rise buildings. The General's Building has also become a famous patriotic education base, attracting many tourists daily who come to visit and commemorate the old general who built the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.