Situated in Changting County in the west of Fujian Province, Changting Revolutionary Site was set up during the Second Revolutionary Civil War.
At the beginning of 1929, under the leadership of Mao Zedong and Zhu De, the 4th Army of the Chinese Workers’and Peasants’ Red Army fought in Gannan (Southern Jiangxi Province) and Minxi (Western Fujian Province) after being in the Jinggang Mountains. In March, the Red Army launched an attack and occupied Changting County and established the first Red political system in Western Fujian Province — the Changting County Provisional Revolutionary Committee. Until May, the five county areas were already under the control of the Red Army and, due steady development, by the second half of 1930, the Central Revolutionary Base was established after the revolutionary bases in Minxi and Gannan were gradually joined together. Since the Changting Revolutionary Base was a part of the Minxi Revolutionary Base, it then became an important component of the Central Revolutionary Base.
The former site of the Changting Revolution is comprised mainly of the former Provincial Soviet Government site, Gospel Hospital, Yunxiang Pavilion (Pavilion Held by Clouds), Zhanggeng Villa, China Christian Church and other such places.
The former site of the Provincial Soviet Government lies on Zhaozheng Road in Changting County. Covering more than 3,000 square meters, the entire building is made of wood. At the time of Minguo (the Republic of China), 1912-1949, it served as the Fujian No 7 Middle School. On March 18, 1932, the first Representative Assembly of the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers of Fujian Province was held here, founding the Fujian Provincial Soviet Government. From then on the building housed offices for the Provincial Soviet Government.
Gospel Hospital is located at the foot of the Beishan Mountains in Changting County. Originally, it served as a missionary hospital — a single-storied building of revolving wood construction. Some of the wounded soldiers from the August 1st Nanchang Uprising in 1927 were nursed back to health at the hospital. Mao Zedong also recuperated at Gospel Hospital in 1929. From 1931-1933, the hospital opened the Central Red Nurses’ School and the Central Red Medical School. In addition they procured and transported medicines and medical equipment for the Red Army. In 1933, renamed Central Red Hospital, it was moved to Ruijin County, Jiangxi Province.
The Yunxiang Pavilion is in the Wushi Mountains (Mountains Covered with Black Stones) in Changting County, close to the Tingjiang River. It was the site of the Changting Revolutionary Committee in March 1929, the first government agency in the Minxi revolutionary Base formed when the 4th Red Army (the 4th Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army) entered Fujian Province for the first time.
The Zhanggeng Villa is located on the banks of the Dongting River in Changting County. The Command and Political Department were located at this site when the 4th Red Army was stationed in Changting County in 1929. The offices and former residences of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Chen Yi and others still remain.
The China Christian Church was the seat of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee during the Second Revolutionary Civil War. Zhou Enlai once lived there when he came to Changting County for revolutionary activities.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
