Former Site of the Longtan Temple Revolutionary Base

Former Site of the Longtan Temple Revolutionary Base

The former site of the Longtan Temple Revolutionary Base is located at Longtan Temple (also known as Tánxià Sì) in Xiyè Village, Shāpǔ Town, Fuqing City.

Longtan Temple was remote and thus conducive to secrecy; it was close to the sea, offering convenient maritime transportation; and the villagers had a high level of consciousness and a deep-rooted foundation for revolution. For these reasons, Longtan Temple served as a revolutionary base for the Fuqing underground guerrilla forces during the Great Revolution period, the Anti-Japanese War period, and the Liberation War period. Many anti-Japanese guerrilla fighters and underground revolutionary workers stayed here.

In September 1944, the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China held an expanded meeting in Nányáng, Chánglè, to plan the anti-Japanese guerrilla war. The meeting decided to organize armed forces to combat the Japanese invaders and the Kuomintang reactionary forces. In the early winter of that year, Chen Héngyuán, Secretary of the Fuqing County Central Committee of the CPC, and Hé Xūtáo brought seventy to eighty underground guerrilla fighters to Longtan Temple and established the temple as their base to carry out anti-Japanese struggles. They incorporated the Gaoshan Wēngtíngmù Self-Defense Team and formed a people's anti-Japanese self-defense armed force of over 200 members.

During the Liberation War period, leaders of the underground Communist organizations at various levels held secret meetings in the temple to plan operations against the Kuomintang reactionary forces. In 1947, Longtan Primary School was reopened at the temple, with Ye Zàiyuán serving as the acting principal and Wang Yuándá among the teaching staff, continuing underground revolutionary activities there. In 1949, they also organized dozens of guerrilla fighters to go to Lóngtián to assist in the assault on the Kuomintang’s 96th Army, and carried out multiple attacks on the Kuomintang’s joint defense salt soldiers’ smuggling suppression team, among others, until liberation. Longtan Temple witnessed the glorious history of the revolutionary struggle on the Longgao Peninsula.

Longtan Temple (also known as Tánxià Sì) has an uncertain date of establishment and covers an area of 7,277 square meters. Due to years of neglect and severe damage, it was rebuilt in 1995.

(Source: “A Guide to Revolutionary Sites in Fujian Province · Fuzhou Volume”)

Xiyè Village: Xiyè Village…… Detailed information about Xiyè Village++