Former Site of the Guerrilla Rear Hospital in the She Ethnic Township

Former Site of the Guerrilla Rear Hospital in the She Ethnic Township

The Former Site of the Guerrilla Rear Hospital in the She Ethnic Township is a classic red tourism attraction.

In the winter of 1947, the Pingyang County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to establish a rear hospital for guerrillas in the Pingxi District. After discussion, the Pingxi District Committee chose to set up the hospital in two mountain villages—Xiaoling and Zhangshutan in Huaixi Township. The area around Huaixi features high mountains, dense forests, and numerous caves, making it ideal for concealment. The Qiongling, Xiaoling, and Yaoling mountain passes connect to mountainous regions such as Shantang, Shuanggui, and Zhoushanxia, linking to the Qingjingli guerrilla base, which facilitated both support and retreat. Moreover, Xiaoling Village and Zhangshutan Village were inhabited mainly by the She ethnic group, whose residents had long suffered under the oppression and exploitation of the Kuomintang. They were sympathetic to the Communists and guerrillas. Speaking the She language, they could more easily deceive the enemy. One of the permanent locations of the rear hospital was a two-story wooden house with five rooms at the home of Xu Huanjing in Zhangshutan Village.

When the hospital first opened, its only equipment was a first aid kit captured from the enemy. Bandages and disinfectants such as alcohol were procured by underground couriers who braved enemy lines and trekked over mountains to market towns like Shuitou and Shanmen. Surgical instruments were substituted with daggers or even household scissors, and medications primarily consisted of local herbal remedies, supplemented by folk prescriptions provided by the community. The doctor was a local man named Chi Fangshui, with assistants including Lei Chaofu and Bai Xiuying. Whenever wounded or sick soldiers arrived, villagers risked their own safety to bring them to the hospital. Mothers and older women arranged beds, boiled water, cleaned wounds, and washed blood-stained clothes, assisting medical personnel with treatment and care. When there were many casualties, people voluntarily offered their own rooms and quilts as makeshift beds. Young villagers, under the guise of cutting grass or chopping wood, kept watch day and night around the houses to ensure the safety of the wounded. To help the wounded recover and return to the frontlines as soon as possible, the She villagers often gave up their own precious eggs and game to nourish the soldiers. The heartfelt care from the villagers deeply moved the guerrilla fighters recovering in the She hospital. As soon as their conditions improved, they eagerly helped the villagers—teaching children to read, leading everyone in singing revolutionary songs. This remote She village was filled with deep camaraderie between soldiers and civilians.

The Former Site of the Guerrilla Rear Hospital in the She Ethnic Township is located in Nanshan?? Village, Huaixi Township, present-day Pingyang County, more than 50 kilometers from the county seat. The two-story wooden house with five rooms at the home of Xu Huanjing in Zhangshutan Village faces south, with a small stream in front and a path behind leading to Qiongling, Xiaoling, and Yaoling. The original site had deteriorated over time and collapsed during Typhoon No. 17 in 1994.

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