Former Residence of Martyr Chen Tianzhang

Former Residence of Martyr Chen Tianzhang

The former residence of Martyr Chen Tianzhang is a classic red tourism destination.

The former residence of Martyr Chen Tianzhang is located in Qingshan Group, Waikeng Village, Xin County Town, Hanjiang District, Putian City.

Chen Tianzhang (1906–December 1930), also known as Ke Qin, was born into a rural pastor’s family in Waikeng Village, Xin County Town. In his youth, while studying at Putian Zheli Middle School, he embarked on the revolutionary path and joined the Communist Youth League in February 1926, becoming one of the first members in Putian. He was admitted to the Chinese Communist Party that June and successively served as an organizational member of the Putian Branch of the CCP and the Putian Special District Committee. In January 1927, he was selected to study at the Fujian Party and Government Cadre Training Institute. That December, he was appointed organizational member of the Putian County Committee of the CCP, overseeing underground work. In early 1928, he was responsible for establishing local revolutionary armed forces. Chen Tianzhang went deep into villages with strong mass support such as Aobing, Dongdu, and Jiagi to mobilize party branches to raise funds and recruit guerrilla fighters. In March of the same year, he established the first revolutionary armed force in Putian in Aobing and served as the captain of the guerrilla unit. He led the guerrillas in battles across the mountainous areas and key towns of Putian, striking against local reactionary Kuomintang forces and carrying out struggles against evil and tyranny, thereby earning the support of the people and strengthening the people's armed forces. In August 1930, the various guerrilla units in Putian County were merged and expanded into the 207th Regiment of the 23rd Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, with Chen Tianzhang serving as political commissar. That November, he became a member of the Putian Special Committee of the CCP. Under the leadership of the committee, he carried out land revolution and helped establish the Waikeng Soviet regime in Putian. On December 26 of the same year, while leading his troops to carry out an anti-tyranny mission in Luwei Village, Waikeng, they were encircled by over 800 personnel from a detachment of the Kuomintang Marine Corps stationed in central Fujian along with various local reactionary armed forces. Faced with a critical situation, he calmly and decisively commanded the battle and valiantly fought back. He was eventually captured after being wounded and running out of ammunition. He was then taken to the county seat and imprisoned in the brig of the Kuomintang Marine Corps brigade headquarters. On December 28 of the same year, he was martyred heroically in southern Putian.

The former residence of Martyr Chen Tianzhang was originally a two-story, double-courtyard, three-section earthen and wooden structure facing south, with a courtyard between the two courtyards and wing rooms on both sides. The right wing room had two bays and covered an area of about 40 square meters. In 1930, the old house was burned down by the Kuomintang. In 1953, the Putian County People’s Government funded the reconstruction of the residence, but only the rear section and the right wing room were rebuilt. On the open ground to the east of the house, there is a memorial stele erected in May 2005 by the villagers of Qingshan in honor of the martyr, inscribed with a brief biography of his life.