Former Site of the Origin of the Big Sword Society

Former Site of the Origin of the Big Sword Society

The former site of the origin of the Big Sword Society is a classic red tourism destination.

The former site of the origin of the Big Sword Society is located in Liudaogou Village, the seat of the Guosong Town government in Tonghua County, 43 kilometers from Kuaimamao Town, the county seat. Although the site has been identified, it remains undeveloped and unprotected.

In the autumn of 1927, the Niu Baoshan and Wang Shuzhang families, who lived in Laoyinggou, Liudaogou Village, Tonghua County, suffered greatly from banditry and invited Master Kuang Xiangpu from Rizhao County, Shandong Province, to establish the Big Sword Society. At its founding, the Big Sword Society proposed the slogan: “Eliminate bandits, protect homes and ensure the safety of the people,” which attracted many young and middle-aged farmers to join. Shortly after its establishment, the society eliminated habitual bandits such as “Haishan” and “Jiujian,” prompting many victims of banditry to rush to join. The Fengtian warlords, fearing that the Big Sword Society would threaten their rule, ordered its suppression. In response, the society changed its slogan from “Eliminate bandits, protect homes and ensure the safety of the people” to “Kill all corrupt officials, eliminate tyranny and bring peace to the good,” directing their struggle against the dark rule of the Fengtian warlords.

By the end of 1927, the Dongjiangyan and Sidaojiang substations of Tonghua County had privately seized spoils from the Big Sword Society’s anti-bandit operations and arbitrarily detained or lured members. The Big Sword Society branches in Linjiang Hongtuya and Liudaogou, Tonghua County, were very dissatisfied with this and strongly demanded that the Tonghua County government release the detained members. After being refused, the two branches decided to stage an uprising on January 1, 1928, in Hongtuya. On January 3, they captured Reshuihezi. On January 4, Lu Hongfu, vice president of the Hongtuya Big Sword Society, led over a thousand members from Jiangdong Chuanying (now the old bridgehead in Jiangdong) to attack Tonghua County (now Tonghua City). Wielding swords and spears and braving gunfire, the members crossed the frozen Hun River, stormed Yuhuang Mountain, burned down the substation, and routed the police, who fled in disarray. Guo Yuzhen, the head of Tonghua County, was forced to release the detained Big Sword Society members. On the morning of January 7, Zhang Shusheng led another thousand-plus members in a second attack on Tonghua County, breaching the eastern streets outside the city and occupying 14 key government departments including the Official Silver Office, Tax Bureau, Patrol Police Substation, Chamber of Commerce, and Opium Prohibition Bureau. They burned down the residences of corrupt officials and destroyed the business premises of Japanese invaders selling arms. The society then launched an offensive on the city, but the walls, coated with ice by the police, were too slippery to climb. The battle continued until 4 p.m., but the Big Sword Society failed to breach the city. At this point, the Fengtian warlords mobilized reinforcements. To avoid unnecessary casualties, Zhang Shusheng led the society back to Hongtuya. On January 10, hundreds of members launched a third assault on Tonghua County but had to retreat due to the overwhelming enemy strength.

The Big Sword Society’s peasant movement in the Eastern Frontier Region severely shook the Fengtian warlords’ rule there. Zhang Zuolin hastily deployed troops to Tonghua to suppress the society. On January 25, a command headquarters for the “encirclement and suppression” of the Big Sword Society was established, with Warlord Wu Junsheng as the commander-in-chief. On January 26, Wu sent a cavalry regiment to attack Hongtuya. Learning of this, the Big Sword Society, under the leadership of 0-Division’s Master Kuang Xiangpu, set an ambush on the cavalry’s route and nearly annihilated the entire regiment. Enraged, Wu Junsheng on January 30 ordered Brigade Commander Zhang Fu to lead over 2,500 infantry, artillery, and joint defense forces from Linjiang and Liuhe, along with county-level rural pacification units, in a three-pronged attack on Hongtuya. On January 31, Zhang Fu ordered artillery bombardment of Hongtuya, setting the town ablaze. To spare the civilians from further suffering, Zhang Shusheng led his forces to retreat to Wudaochangcha. On February 2, the cunning Wu Junsheng sent emissaries to Wudaochangcha, claiming the government was willing to cooperate with the Big Sword Society and inviting representatives to “negotiate” in Tonghua, promising absolute safety. To prevent further slaughter of members and civilians, the society sent Zhang Shusheng and other representatives to negotiate. They proposed four demands: reducing exorbitant taxes, severely punishing corrupt officials and abusive police, providing disaster relief, and compensating the families of fallen members—all of which Wu Junsheng rejected. On February 6, Zhang Shusheng and two other representatives were secretly executed. On February 9, Wu Junsheng’s forces launched a full-scale assault on Wudaochangcha. General Zhang Zongyao led the Big Sword Society members in a bloody battle but was ultimately defeated due to being outnumbered, and Zhang Zongyao was killed. The vigorous Big Sword Society peasant movement ultimately failed under the brutal suppression of the Fengtian warlord government.

Established in the autumn of 1927 and utilized in the autumn of 1983. No development or protection has been undertaken. (Excerpted from *Revolutionary Sites and Relics of Tonghua*)

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