Former Site of Shanmen Street, the Departure Point of the Red Army Advance Detachment’s Northern March to Resist Japan

Former Site of Shanmen Street, the Departure Point of the Red Army Advance Detachment’s Northern March to Resist Japan

The Former Site of Shanmen Street, the Departure Point of the Red Army Advance Detachment’s Northern March to Resist Japan, is a classic red tourism attraction.

On the morning of March 18, 1938, Su Yu led over 400 soldiers from the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Detachment of the New Fourth Army (formerly the Red Army Advance Detachment) as they set out from Shanmen Street in Pingyang for the anti-Japanese front in southern Anhui. On the day the troops departed, the streets of Shanmen were packed with people seeing off the soldiers. The crowds accompanied the Red Army soldiers for miles, sending them all the way to Meiling Pavilion, more than ten li away. General Su Yu wrote in his memoirs, “Su Yu’s War Memoirs”: “On March 18, we set out from Shanmen Street in Pingyang. The farewell crowd was filled with deep emotion. For three years, the revolutionary masses of the southern Zhejiang guerrilla zone had nurtured the growth of our guerrilla forces, and many had given their lives for our survival. Now, a new revolutionary mission called us, and we were all ready to fight for this new task. Such a farewell was deeply meaningful.”

The Former Site of Shanmen Street, the Departure Point of the Red Army Advance Detachment’s Northern March to Resist Japan, is located on the southern foothills of Fengling Mountain in Shanmen Town, Pingyang County. It is part of Pingyang’s historic revolutionary base area. This old street was first built in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, dating back approximately 300 to 400 years. The street runs east-west, stretching over 300 meters in length and about 4 meters in width. Originally paved with cobblestones, it featured wooden shops. A stream runs through the center of the street, flowing year-round. Shanmen Street was originally the settlement area of the Zhou, Xu, and Ye families. Each family built a stone gate tower, hence the street was initially called Sanmen Street (“Three Gate Street”), which later evolved phonetically into Shanmen Street (“Mountain Gate Street”).

The Former Site of Shanmen Street, the Departure Point of the Red Army Advance Detachment’s Northern March to Resist Japan, is part of the National Red Tourism Classic Scenic Area — the Former Sites Cluster of the Southern Zhejiang (Pingyang) Revolutionary Base. It is also a National Patriotic Education Base.

Source: Party History Research Office of the Wenzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC