Zedong Building

Zedong Building

The Zedong Building is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a patriotic education base.

The Zedong Building in Shangzhai, Wuhu Village, Fushi Town, Yongding District (He’ao Tou), is situated on the mountainside of Baiye Lake Peak at the junction of Fushi, Hulei, and Chen Dong townships, at an altitude of over 800 meters. In late May 1929, Mao Zedong, Zhu De, and Chen Yi led the Fourth Red Army to liberate Yongding County and established the Yongding County Revolutionary Committee. That same month, Xie Xianqiu, a member of the Yongding County Revolutionary Committee and one of the leaders of the 1928 Jin Feng Peasant Armed Uprising, carried out revolutionary activities in the He’ao Tou area, mobilizing the masses to fight against local tyrants, distribute land, and establish a Soviet government. At that time, He’ao Tou village was under the jurisdiction of present-day Shiling Village, Chen Dong Township. When the Shiling Township Soviet Government was established, Zhang Maohuang from He’ao Tou served as its chairman.

In early August of the same year, after guiding the convening of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in Western Fujian at Wen Chang Pavilion in Jiaoyang, Shanghang, as the CCP representative of the Fourth Red Army, Mao Zedong, under the alias Mr. Yang, accompanied by his wife He Zizhen, traveled from Jiaoyang, Shanghang, through Dayangba, also in Shanghang, into Yongding County. They passed through Hugang, Sanbao, and Shanghulei before arriving at He’ao Tou Village, where they stayed in a room on the left side of the third floor of the square earthen building belonging to the Zhang Maohuang family. Over the course of ten-plus days, the Zhang Maohuang family not only took care of Mao Zedong and He Zizhen, who were suffering from malaria, but also worked with the local Red Guards to ensure Mao’s security. On August 21, Zhang Maohuang and the Red Guards carried Mao on a stretcher from He’ao Tou to Niugubu Natural Village in Xiashan Village, Qiling Township, where he stayed successively in Huaxing Building and a bamboo hut at Qingshanxia. In late September, Mao left Niugubu, traveled through Heshi Paoshan, and made his way to Shanghang County, returning to the Fourth Red Army.

The “Zedong Building” has now become a patriotic education base in Yongding District.

During his time in Yongding, while recuperating from illness, reading newspapers, studying enemy intelligence, and analyzing the revolutionary situation and strategies, Mao Zedong also met with responsible officials of the Yongding County Party, government, and military — including Zhang Dingcheng, Ruan Shan, Lu Zhaoxi, Chen Zheng, Lu Qizhong, Zeng Mucun, Xie Xianqiu, Chen Zhaoxiang, and Lin Meiting. Together, they discussed implementing the spirit of the First Congress of the Communist Party of China in Western Fujian and studied the establishment of the Yongding Revolutionary Base. He also shared experiences from the revolutionary struggle in the Jinggangshan Base Area and guided the summarization of lessons learned from the Yongding Uprising.

After the main forces of the Red Army embarked on the Long March, Shangzhai Village was razed to the ground by the Kuomintang. Twenty-one women and children were captured, over 80 rooms were burned down, 39 oxen and more than 50 pigs were looted, six paper mills were destroyed, and 16 families were wiped out. Meanwhile, brothers Zhang Maohuang and Zhang Maochun, along with many other revolutionary fighters from the village, sacrificed their lives heroically. The Red Army guerrillas of Western Fujian and the local people persisted in guerrilla warfare until the liberation of the entire country. In 1951, the Yongding County People’s Government rebuilt the houses that had been destroyed, including those of the Zhang Maohuang and Zhang Maochun families, and renamed them the “Zedong Building.”