Former Site of the Establishment of the 13th Independent Regiment of the Min Dong Red Army – Ruifeng Temple

Former Site of the Establishment of the 13th Independent Regiment of the Min Dong Red Army – Ruifeng Temple

The former site of the establishment of the 13th Independent Regiment of the Min Dong Red Army, Ruifeng Temple, is located on Datong Street in Toupu Town, Lianjiang County.

In October 1933, Chiang Kai-shek mustered one million troops to launch the fifth military “encirclement and suppression” campaign against the revolutionary bases led by the Chinese Communist Party, with 500,000 of them focused on attacking the Central Revolutionary Base. Due to the erroneous leadership of “Left” dogmatism, the fifth counter-encirclement campaign ended in failure. However, the Party organizations in the Min Dong region proceeded from reality, adapted to circumstances, and skillfully leveraged the favorable situation created by the “Fujian Incident” to propel the revolutionary struggle into a new phase, establishing the Lian (Jiang)-Luo (Yuan) Soviet Area in the southern part of Min Dong. This led to a fervent wave of land revolution in the Min Dong region during the winter of 1933 to early 1934, even as other red zones saw a downturn in revolutionary activities.

Since the launch of guerrilla warfare under Party leadership in late June 1932, several local armed groups had emerged in the Lian-Luo region. In addition to the 1st Detachment of the Min Dong (Min Zhong) Workers’ and Peasants’ Guerrilla Unit, the 9th Detachment was established in the mountainous border area of Lian-Luo by the end of 1932. Led by Lin Xiangshu, the detachment’s core members were poor peasants and fishermen from coastal areas such as Shengtou, Waiyang, and Xunyu. They frequently operated along the coastal border regions of Shengtou, Xunyu, and Songshan.

After June 1933, the Lianjiang County Central Committee of the CPC successively established local armed organizations in areas such as Shibie, Heyang, Xuanbei, Ma tou, Qianyu (Xiayu), and Yanqi in the Lian-Luo region.

After the 13th Lianjiang Workers’ and Peasants’ Guerrilla Command captured Toupu, six out of the county’s eight districts rapidly became “red.” However, there were no regular Red Army forces to defend the newly established red regime. On January 3, 1934, the Lianjiang County Central Committee held an expanded meeting at Ruifeng Temple on Datong Street in Toupu Town, deciding to implement Mao Zedong’s correct proposition — unifying and reorganizing various local guerrilla units to establish a regular Red Army force in Lian-Luo. On January 7, in front of the hall of Ruifeng Temple in Toupu, red flags fluttered and conch horns blared as the 13th Independent Regiment of the Min Dong (Lian-Luo) Red Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army was officially established. The County Central Committee appointed Wei Geng (who later defected) as regiment commander, Chen Xiangrong as political commissar, and Chen Yuan as chief of staff. It consisted of two companies, one special service team, with Wan Ze’an (a martyr) as Company 1 commander, Zhang Libin (a martyr) as Company 2 commander, and Liang Renqin (a martyr) as head of the special service team. The entire regiment had over 200 members. After its establishment, the 13th Red Regiment formed a formal military structure, underwent standardized military training, and became a strong people’s armed force in the Lian-Luo region. It laid the foundation for deepening the land revolution, combating enemies, defending the Soviet Area, and achieving the worker-peasant armed separatist regime, marking a glorious chapter in the combat history of the local Red Army.

Ruifeng Temple has a construction area of 430 square meters, is of brick-concrete structure, and its exact date of construction is unknown. Due to years of disrepair, it underwent two renovations in 2002 and 2009.

Toupu Town: Located on the northeastern coast of Lianjiang, it borders the Lufeng Mountain Range to the north, faces Luoyuan Bay, and encompasses the flat and fertile Matai Plain. The town covers a land area of 25.1 square kilometers, with 9,133 mu of arable land, 4,995 mu of coastal tidal flats, and 5,000 mu of forested area. It has 12,000 mu of camellia and fruit orchards, averaging 2.5 mu per household, ranking first in the county. The town governs eight administrative villages with a population of 20,600, and is a renowned revolutionary base and a provincial-level historical and cultural town.

In 2003, the total output value of industry and agriculture reached 220 million yuan, an increase of 21.7%, including industrial... Detailed information about Toupu Town++