Yongding Niugupu Red Tourism Scenic Area

Yongding Niugupu Red Tourism Scenic Area

Yongding Niugupu Red Tourism Scenic Area is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a classic red tourism destination.

Niugupu, a village name, is located in the northwest of Qiling Township, Yongding County, Fujian Province. It is a renowned old revolutionary base where proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Su Yu, Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, and Tan Zhenlin once lived and fought, earning it the nickname "Little Jinggangshan of Western Fujian."

On August 21, 1929, Mao Zedong, accompanied by his wife He Zizhen, secretly arrived in Niugupu Village under the protection of Su Yu’s detachment of the Fourth Red Army. While recuperating from illness, he visited the poor, inquired into their hardships, and guided the land revolution struggle in the Yongding area.

Due to Chiang Kai-shek’s launch of the “Three-Provinces Joint Suppression Campaign,” the Nationalist “extermination” forces, together with the Jinfeng Militia, launched several “encirclement” attacks on Niugupu. To ensure Mao Zedong’s safety, the Yongding County Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to move him from the “Huaxing Building” in Niugupu to a bamboo hut at Qingshanxia. Since the mountainous area where Niugupu is located was also once called “Raofeng Mountain,” Mao humorously referred to the bamboo hut as the “Raofeng Study,” where he continued to guide the land revolution struggles in Western Fujian and Yongding.

On September 17, 1929, local reactionary militia suddenly stormed toward Niugupu. The mountain paths were steep, and Mao Zedong, weakened by malaria, was unable to walk, rendering the stretcher useless. Villager Chen Tianyu from Niugupu carried the burly Mao on his back, wearing his shoes backwards, and inch by inch carried him to Yudingping, several miles away. As a result, the enemies followed the footprints and went further and further away, and Mao finally escaped danger. Later, in frustration, the enemies set fire to the “Huaxing Building” in Niugupu.

In 1955, funded by the government, local residents built the “Chairman Mao Memorial Pavilion” on the ruins of the Huaxing Building, which had been burned down by the reactionary Kuomintang. The pavilion is made of wood and earth, covering an area of over 300 square meters, with a two-story post-and-lintel structure. The upper floor has corridors on all four sides, and the front is inscribed with the words “Chairman Mao Memorial Pavilion.”

On March 12, 1981, the Chairman Mao Memorial Pavilion was designated as a county-level key cultural relics protection unit. The pavilion displays related photos and other cultural relics and is open to visitors. At the same time, a bamboo hut was constructed 1.5 kilometers east of Niugupu in Qingshanxia, modeled after the original “Raofeng Study,” for people to pay their respects.

After the reform and opening-up, the residents of Niugupu gradually relocated to places outside the mountains such as Xiashan and Qiaozitou in Qiling Township.