Jinggangshan
Encyclopedia
Jinggangshan is located in the Luoxian Mountains (羅霄山), in the remote border region between Jiangxi
and Hunan
provinces of China
. It lies at the junction of four counties - Ninggang, Yongxing, Suichuan and Lingxian. The mountains cover some 670 km², with an average elevation of 381.5 m above sea level
. The highest point is 1841 m above sea level.
The massif itself consists of a number of thickly forested parallel ridges. On the heights there is not much farmland and most settlements at the base of the mountains. The main settlement is at Ciping, which is surrounded by five villages - Big Well, Little Well, Middle Well, Lower Well and Upper Well - from which Jinggangshan (literally "Well Ridge Mountains") took its name.
(KMT) turned against the Communist Party during the Shanghai Massacre
of 1927, the Communists either went underground or fled to the countryside. Following the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising
in Changsha, Mao Zedong
led his 1000 remaining men to Jinggangshan, where he set up his first peasant soviet.
Mao reorganised his forces at the mountain village of Sanwan, consolidating them into a single regiment - the "1st Regiment
, 1st Division
, of the First Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army". Mao then made an alliance with the local bandit chieftains Wang Zuo
and Yuan Wencai
, who had previously had little association with the Communists. For the first year he set up military headquarters at the town of Maoping
, a small market town encircled by low hills guarding the main western route into Jinggangshan. In November, the army occupied Chaling, some 80 km to the west, though this was quickly overrun by KMT troops.
When pressure from KMT troops became too great, Mao abandoned Maoping and withdrew up the mountain to Wang Zuo's stronghold at Dajing (Big Well), from which they could control the mountain passes. That winter the Communists drilled with the local bandits and the next year incorporated them into their regular army. In February a battalion from the KMT's Jiangxi Army occupied Xincheng, a town north of Maoping. During the night of February 17, Mao surrounded them with three battalions of his own and routed them the next day.
Zhu De
and his 1000 remaining troops, who had participated in the abortive Nanchang Uprising
, joined Mao Zedong toward the end of April 1928. Together the two proclaimed the formation of the Fourth Army. Other veterans who joined the new base included Lin Biao
, Zhou Enlai
and Chen Yi
. The partnership between Mao Zedong and Zhu De marked the heyday of the Jinggangshan base area, which rapidly expanded to included at its peak in the summer of 1928, parts of seven counties with a population of more than 500,000. The two merged their armies form the Fourth "Red Army". Together with Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo's forces, their soldiers numbered more than 8000. A popular story from that period recounts the hardworking Zhu De carrying grain for the troops up the mountain since agriculture was nigh impossible on Jinggangshan itself. It was also around this period that Mao Zedong formulated his theories of rural-based revolution and guerrilla warfare
.
In July 1928, Zhu De's 28th and 29th regiments crossed into Hunan with plans to take the important communication hub of Hengyang. Mao Zedong's 31st and 32nd regiments were supposed to hold Maoping and Ninggang until Zhu returned. They were, however, unable to hold back the advance of the Kuomintang's Jiangxi units and lost Ninggang and two neighbouring counties. On August 30, the young officer He Tingying managed to hold the narrow pass of Huangyangjie with a single under-strength battalion against three regiments of the Hunanese Eight Army and one regiment of Jiangxi troops, thus saving Maoping from being overrun.
As the size of the Communist forces grew and pressure grew from the Kuomintang, the Fourth Army was forced to move out. From January 14, 1929, the organisation moved to Ruijin
, further south in Jiangxi province, where the Jiangxi Soviet
was eventually set up. At the same time, the Kuomintang were executing another encirclement campaign, involving 25,000 men from fourteen regiments. Peng Dehuai
was left in command of an 800-man-strong force, formerly the Fifth Army. By February, his remaining troops broke up under heavy attack from Wu Shang's Hunan troops.
After the Jiangxi Soviet had established itself in southern Jiangxi, Jinggangshan became the northwestern frontier of Communist operations. Peng Dehuai returned with a much stronger Fifth Army in early 1930, basing himself just north of Jinggangshan. In late February 1930, the bandits Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo were assassinated by Communist guerillas, probably on orders from officials in the Jiangxi Soviet. Their men made Wang Yunlong, Wang Zuo's younger brother, their new leader. Most Communist forces left the area in 1934, when the Long March
began. By the time they returned in 1949, Wang Yunlong had been succeeded by his son. He was charged with banditry and executed.
, Jinggangshan became one of the most important sites of the Communist Revolution. It was celebrated on posters, songs and operas. During the Cultural Revolution
, Jinggangshan became a place of pilgrimage for young Red Guards
, who took advantage of a nationwide "networking movement". They often made the journey on foot to relive the experiences of their revolutionary forebearers. At its peak, more than 30,000 Red Guards arrived a day, causing terrible problems of food, housing, sanitation. Peak numbers continued for more than two months until the government began to discourage the young people.
In 1981, an area of 16.6 km2 was designated a Natural Protection Area. The next year Jinggang Mountain was listed as a National Priority Scenic Area. In recent years Jinggangshan has become an attraction for domestic tourists interested in revolutionary history. According to Xinhua, tens of thousands of domestic tourists visit the mountain every year. Sites promoted by the local authorities include the mint of the Red Army, the Revolution Museum, and the Martyrs Cemetery.
In May 2004 a domestic airport was opened to attract tourists.
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
and Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
provinces of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It lies at the junction of four counties - Ninggang, Yongxing, Suichuan and Lingxian. The mountains cover some 670 km², with an average elevation of 381.5 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The highest point is 1841 m above sea level.
The massif itself consists of a number of thickly forested parallel ridges. On the heights there is not much farmland and most settlements at the base of the mountains. The main settlement is at Ciping, which is surrounded by five villages - Big Well, Little Well, Middle Well, Lower Well and Upper Well - from which Jinggangshan (literally "Well Ridge Mountains") took its name.
Base of the Red Army
Jinggangshan is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army (the People's Liberation Army of China) and the "cradle of the Chinese revolution". After the KuomintangKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
(KMT) turned against the Communist Party during the Shanghai Massacre
April 12 Incident
The April 12 Incident of 1927 refers to the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party organizations in Shanghai by the military forces of Chiang Kai-shek and conservative factions in the Kuomintang...
of 1927, the Communists either went underground or fled to the countryside. Following the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising
Autumn Harvest Uprising
The Autumn Harvest Uprising was an insurrection that took place in Hunan province and Jiangxi province, China on September 7, 1927, led by Mao Zedong, who established a short-lived Hunan Soviet....
in Changsha, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
led his 1000 remaining men to Jinggangshan, where he set up his first peasant soviet.
Mao reorganised his forces at the mountain village of Sanwan, consolidating them into a single regiment - the "1st Regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
, 1st Division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, of the First Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army". Mao then made an alliance with the local bandit chieftains Wang Zuo
Wang Zuo
Wang Zuo 王佐 , nicknamed Nandougu , was a former bandit chieftain who operated in the mountainous area of Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province, China, from 1923, and then joined the communists, becoming a protege of Mao Zedong during their formative period in the Jiangxi Soviet...
and Yuan Wencai
Yuan Wencai
Yuan Wencai was a former bandit chieftain who operated in the mountainous area of Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province, China, from 1923, and then joined the communists, becoming a protege of Mao Zedong during their formative period in the Jiangxi Soviet...
, who had previously had little association with the Communists. For the first year he set up military headquarters at the town of Maoping
Maoping
Maoping is a town in Zigui County , in the western part of Hubei Province of China. It is the county seat of Zigui County, and as such is labeled simply as "Zigui" or "Zigui County" on most less-detailed maps.The town is located on the right bank of the Yangtze, just upstream of the Three...
, a small market town encircled by low hills guarding the main western route into Jinggangshan. In November, the army occupied Chaling, some 80 km to the west, though this was quickly overrun by KMT troops.
When pressure from KMT troops became too great, Mao abandoned Maoping and withdrew up the mountain to Wang Zuo's stronghold at Dajing (Big Well), from which they could control the mountain passes. That winter the Communists drilled with the local bandits and the next year incorporated them into their regular army. In February a battalion from the KMT's Jiangxi Army occupied Xincheng, a town north of Maoping. During the night of February 17, Mao surrounded them with three battalions of his own and routed them the next day.
Zhu De
Zhu De
Zhu De was a Chinese militarist, politician, revolutionary, and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1955 Zhu became one of the Ten Marshals of the People's Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as the founder.-Early...
and his 1000 remaining troops, who had participated in the abortive Nanchang Uprising
Nanchang Uprising
The Nanchang Uprising was the first major Kuomintang-Communist engagement of the Chinese Civil War, in order to counter the anti-communist purges by the Nationalist Party of China....
, joined Mao Zedong toward the end of April 1928. Together the two proclaimed the formation of the Fourth Army. Other veterans who joined the new base included Lin Biao
Lin Biao
Lin Biao was a major Chinese Communist military leader who was pivotal in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China...
, Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
and Chen Yi
Chen Yi (communist)
Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
. The partnership between Mao Zedong and Zhu De marked the heyday of the Jinggangshan base area, which rapidly expanded to included at its peak in the summer of 1928, parts of seven counties with a population of more than 500,000. The two merged their armies form the Fourth "Red Army". Together with Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo's forces, their soldiers numbered more than 8000. A popular story from that period recounts the hardworking Zhu De carrying grain for the troops up the mountain since agriculture was nigh impossible on Jinggangshan itself. It was also around this period that Mao Zedong formulated his theories of rural-based revolution and guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
.
In July 1928, Zhu De's 28th and 29th regiments crossed into Hunan with plans to take the important communication hub of Hengyang. Mao Zedong's 31st and 32nd regiments were supposed to hold Maoping and Ninggang until Zhu returned. They were, however, unable to hold back the advance of the Kuomintang's Jiangxi units and lost Ninggang and two neighbouring counties. On August 30, the young officer He Tingying managed to hold the narrow pass of Huangyangjie with a single under-strength battalion against three regiments of the Hunanese Eight Army and one regiment of Jiangxi troops, thus saving Maoping from being overrun.
As the size of the Communist forces grew and pressure grew from the Kuomintang, the Fourth Army was forced to move out. From January 14, 1929, the organisation moved to Ruijin
Ruijin
Ruijin is a county-level city of Ganzhou in the mountains bordering Fujian Province in south-eastern Jiangxi.The name derives from the ancient God, Rui Jin. It is most famous as one of the earliest centers of Chinese communist activity...
, further south in Jiangxi province, where the Jiangxi Soviet
Jiangxi Soviet
The Chinese Soviet Republic , also translated as the Soviet Republic of China or the China Soviet Republic, and often referred to in historical literature as the Jiangxi Soviet , was a state established in November 1931 by the future Communist Party of China leader Mao...
was eventually set up. At the same time, the Kuomintang were executing another encirclement campaign, involving 25,000 men from fourteen regiments. Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai was a prominent military leader of the Communist Party of China, and China's Defence Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was an important commander during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese civil war and was also the commander-in-chief of People's Volunteer Army in the Korean War...
was left in command of an 800-man-strong force, formerly the Fifth Army. By February, his remaining troops broke up under heavy attack from Wu Shang's Hunan troops.
After the Jiangxi Soviet had established itself in southern Jiangxi, Jinggangshan became the northwestern frontier of Communist operations. Peng Dehuai returned with a much stronger Fifth Army in early 1930, basing himself just north of Jinggangshan. In late February 1930, the bandits Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo were assassinated by Communist guerillas, probably on orders from officials in the Jiangxi Soviet. Their men made Wang Yunlong, Wang Zuo's younger brother, their new leader. Most Communist forces left the area in 1934, when the Long March
Long March
The Long March was a massive military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang army. There was not one Long March, but a series of marches, as various Communist armies in the south...
began. By the time they returned in 1949, Wang Yunlong had been succeeded by his son. He was charged with banditry and executed.
Tourism
Along with Mao Zedong's hometown, ShaoshanShaoshan
Shaoshan is a county-level city in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, noted as the birthplace of Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China. Shaoshan was an important base during the Chinese Communist Revolution....
, Jinggangshan became one of the most important sites of the Communist Revolution. It was celebrated on posters, songs and operas. During the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, Jinggangshan became a place of pilgrimage for young Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
, who took advantage of a nationwide "networking movement". They often made the journey on foot to relive the experiences of their revolutionary forebearers. At its peak, more than 30,000 Red Guards arrived a day, causing terrible problems of food, housing, sanitation. Peak numbers continued for more than two months until the government began to discourage the young people.
In 1981, an area of 16.6 km2 was designated a Natural Protection Area. The next year Jinggang Mountain was listed as a National Priority Scenic Area. In recent years Jinggangshan has become an attraction for domestic tourists interested in revolutionary history. According to Xinhua, tens of thousands of domestic tourists visit the mountain every year. Sites promoted by the local authorities include the mint of the Red Army, the Revolution Museum, and the Martyrs Cemetery.
In May 2004 a domestic airport was opened to attract tourists.
See also
- Geography of ChinaGeography of ChinaChina stretches some across the East Asian landmass bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam in a changing configuration of broad plains, expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, including vast areas of inhospitable terrain...