Former Site of the Armed Struggle of the Yao Mountain Autonomous Council

Former Site of the Armed Struggle of the Yao Mountain Autonomous Council

The former site of the armed struggle of the Yao Mountain Autonomous Council, Fuxing Temple, is located to the east of Houzhuo Village in Gangtou Town, Fuqing City.

During the Agrarian Revolutionary War, Fuxing Temple became one of the activity bases for the underground Communist armed struggle in Longtian and Gaoshan areas of Fuqing County. In 1933, poor peasants in the Longtian area endured years of natural disasters and faced extremely harsh living conditions. The Fufu Pawnshop in Hangxia Village took advantage of the situation by undervaluing pawned items and exploiting the peasants, stirring widespread public anger. The Fuqing Special Branch of the Chinese Communist Party decided to take action when winter approached—when impoverished peasants had no money to reclaim their pawned belongings and no warm clothes to protect them from the cold—and mobilize the masses through the Yao Mountain Council to raid the Fufu Pawnshop and help the poor peasants survive the hardship.

In October 1933, the Fuqing Special Branch of the CCP dispatched Communist Party member Chen Xingfu along with over 80 members of the Yao Mountain Autonomous Council to storm the Fufu Pawnshop. They disarmed the shop’s militia guards, broke into the storerooms and safes, seized the pawned goods, and allowed the public to reclaim their items using pawn tickets. After the raid, the armed members of the Yao Mountain Council gathered at Fuxing Temple, where they trained during the day and carried out attacks on local despots and economic operations at night to combat feudal exploitation. Surrounding landlords and gentry jointly submitted complaints. In early November, Gan Yun, the Nationalist county magistrate of Fuqing, led stationed troops (two companies of the 19th Route Army) on a “suppression” mission. After failing to find the insurgents, he angrily ordered Fuxing Temple to be set on fire for three days and nights, reducing its halls and buildings to ruins. The county government also arbitrarily arrested more than 100 revolutionary masses.

The struggle of the Yao Mountain People’s Autonomous Council shook the whole county. It was the first attempt by the Fuqing local organization of the CCP to mobilize peasants and launch an armed fight against the Nationalist rule and the feudal forces in Fuqing. This expanded the Party’s influence among the poor peasants and ushered the revolutionary struggle of Fuqing’s peasants into a new phase.

Originally named Fuxing Yuan, Fuxing Temple was once the largest temple in southern Fuqing and a place where Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism coexisted. Built in the fourth year of the Qingli era of the Song Dynasty (1044), it was abandoned during the Yuan Dynasty but restored in the late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Over the following 100-plus years during the Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing Dynasty, it underwent multiple renovations and expansions, covering an area of over ten acres. Destroyed in 1933, it was rebuilt in 1998. The reconstructed Fuxing Temple has a floor area of approximately 12,000 square meters and includes 180 halls and rooms. In 2003, overseas Chinese and local residents from surrounding villages donated funds for further repairs, and the temple is currently well preserved.

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

Gangtou Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Fuqing City. Established as Gangtou Commune in 1961, it was reorganized as a township in 1984 and upgraded to a town in 1992. Located in the southeastern part of the city, it is 21 kilometers from the city center. Covering an area of 47 square kilometers with a population of 73,000, it administers 31 village committees: Lingtou, Guanghui, Dongguang, Mahu, Wuxing, Caobing, Hushan, Dongweng, Qianlin, Qintang, Baiyu, Yutian, Ziyuan, Gaodong, Yangbian, Yizhuang, Houyuan, Beiwang, Shantou, Dongyuan, Luhua, Nanzheng, Nanmen, Xilu, Nanlu, Hangxia, Houzhuo, Zhanyang, Houye, Chenku, and Yuban. Major enterprises include hardware machinery and food processing... More detailed information about Gangtou Town++