Former Site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army & Former Residence of Zhou Enlai

Former Site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army & Former Residence of Zhou Enlai

The Former Site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army & Former Residence of Zhou Enlai is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism attraction.

The Former Site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army & Former Residence of Zhou Enlai is located at the junction of the north side of the government compound of Jianning County at No. 12 Minzhu Street, Xinsheng Community, Suixi Town, Jianning County, and the south side of the荷花 Hotel (Frontier Hotel) at No. 9 Zhongshan North Road.

In October 1932, under the command of Zhu De and Zhou Enlai, the First Front Army of the Red Army launched the Jian-Li-Tai Campaign while the Kuomintang army’s fourth “encirclement and suppression” operation was still being deployed. On the 18th and 19th, they successively captured the three county towns of Jianning, Lichuan, and Taining, restoring and consolidating the Jian-Li-Tai Soviet Area. After capturing Jianning on the 18th, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Wang Jiaxiang led the General Political Department, General Headquarters, and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission of the First Front Army to set up base in Jianning. The General Political Department was stationed in the backyard of the old county yamen, where Zhou Enlai also lived and carried out revolutionary activities for over a year. The large hall upstairs served as a meeting room, and the front large room on the east side of the upper floor was Zhou Enlai’s office and bedroom. For more than a year from October 1932 to the end of 1933, although Zhou Enlai occasionally went to the front lines to direct Red Army operations, the General Political Department of the First Front Army was mostly based here.

During his time here, Zhou Enlai commanded the First Front Army of the Red Army to restore and consolidate the Jian-Li-Tai Soviet Area centered on Jianning, which was of great significance in China’s Agrarian Revolutionary War. As the northeastern gateway to the Central Soviet Area and a transportation hub connecting the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Soviet Area, the Jian-Li-Tai Soviet Area served as an advance base and strategic rear supply area for the Central Red Army’s development toward northern and central Fujian. It played a special role during the Fourth Encirclement and Suppression Campaign, the Eastern Expedition of the Red Army into Fujian, and the Fifth Encirclement and Suppression Campaign.

This former site faces south and is a two-story wooden building with white plaster walls and corridors, commonly known as the “Little White Building.” It consists of a long corridor, front and back courtyards, a back hall, and a front hall, with a construction area of 403.85 square meters and a courtyard area of 832.75 square meters.

The Former Site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army & Former Residence of Zhou Enlai was designated as a Fujian Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the People's Government of Fujian Province in October 1985, listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the State Council in May 2006, and announced as a National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in May 2009.

Zhou Enlai was a Marxist, proletarian revolutionary, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat. He was one of the principal leaders of the Communist Party of China and the People’s Republic of China, one of the founders of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and Premier of the People’s Republic of China (1949–1976). Originally from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, he was born in Huai’an, Jiangsu. After graduating from Nankai School in Tianjin in 1917, he went to Japan to study. In 1919, he returned to China and entered Nankai University in September. During the May Fourth Movement, he became a leader among Tianjin students and co-founded the progressive group Awakening Society with other activists... More details about Zhou Enlai ++