China Travel - Site of the Xibaipo Central Committee of the CPC
January 2nd, 2009The site of the Xibaipo Central Committee of the CPC is located in the Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province. The Xibaipo Village lies at the east foot of Mount Taihang and is under the Baipo Ridges on the north bank of Xiatuohe River, about 90 miles from Shijiazhuang City. It was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the CPC and the People’s Liberation Army from May 26, 1948 to March 23, 1949.
The current big yard there covers an area of 16,000 square meters, with the big door facing southward. The yard is divided into two parts: the front and the back. In the front yard there is a row of small yards lined up from east to west, which is actually former residences of Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi and Dong Biwu. The site of the strategy-making room of the Central Military Committee lies in the northwest of Mao Zedong’s former residence. The westernmost part of the big yard was originally the dining hall of the Central institutions. In the northeast part of the back yard, there are three cave dwelling-styled buildings, in which lie Zhu De’s former office and living room. The site of the 2nd Plenum of the 7th CPC Central Committee is in the west of the big yard and between the front and back yard. Other buildings include offices of Xinhua News Agency, dugouts and so forth.
In May 1947, a working committee of the CPC composed of members like Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, and Dong Biwu, moved from northern Shaanxi to Xibaipo. In Xibaipo, a National Land Conference presided over by Liu Shaoqi was held. The conference promulgated the Outline of Land Law of China , which greatly pushed forward the Land Reform Movement. On May 26, 1948, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and all the institutions of the Central Committee of the CPC crossed the Yellow River and finally came to Xibaipo Village. From then to March 23, 1949, Xibaipo was the leading center of Chinese revolution and the last command office in rural areas before the Central Committee was relocated in Beiping (today’s Beijing) on the eve of the establishment of new China. In this village, the Central Committee of the CPC and Central Military Committee deployed and commanded the three Liaoning-Shenyang, Huaihai and Beiping-Tianjin campaigns, the victory of which provided a basis for the downfall of Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek government and the liberation of the whole country. Meanwhile, the 2nd Plenum of the 7th CPC Central Committee was also held here, in which Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Ren Bishi delivered important speeches and reports, pointing out the necessity of policy transformation as the nature of the revolution had transformed from New Democratism to Socialism, and providing the orientation of the socialistic revolution and construction of China.
In Xibaipo Village at that time, leaders of the Central Committee of the CPC and Central Military Committee all lived in ordinary people’s houses with flat roofs, built a bounding wall around, and excavated dugouts within these houses. In 1958, the site was destroyed by water because of the construction of Gangnan Reservoir aiming to improve the conditions of Haihe River. In 1971, the big yard of the site of the Central Committee of the CPC was rebuilt on the northern slope in the village, which basically kept its original appearance.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
