Yudu Long March Bridge

Yudu Long March Bridge

The Yudu Long March Bridge is a classic red tourism attraction.

The “Yudu Long March Bridge” is situated on National Highway 323 in the county town. It was also the main crossing site of the Yudu River—by the foot of the West Gate Pagoda—where the Third Red Army Corps, led by Commander Peng Dehuai and Commissar [redacted], embarked on the Long March. Together with the Red Army Bridge and Pagoda Park, it forms the two-bank layout of the county town along the river, making it an extraordinarily beautiful scenic highlight of the riverside road in the county.

In early October 1934, the Third Red Army Corps withdrew from the battlefield in Shicheng, passed through the southern part of Ningdu, and arrived in areas such as Quyang, Fenkeng, and Chetou in Yudu on the 15th. On the evening of the 17th and 18th, 17,805 soldiers of the Third Red Army Corps crossed the Yudu River from here and from the South Gate of the county town and Mengkou in Lu’ao, embarking on the Long March. Before crossing the river, the Third Red Army Corps held a mobilization meeting for all officers and soldiers at the East Gate Sandbar in the county town. Commander Peng Dehuai and Commissar [redacted] delivered speeches at the meeting. Peng Dehuai advised the soldiers to stay calm and not crowd when crossing the pontoon bridge. He also urged them to write home to inform their families to safeguard the fruits of victory and keep secrets, assuring them that the Red Army would surely return.

To commemorate the achievements of the predecessors and to solve the difficulty of river crossing for residents on both banks, in 1995, with the care and support of governments at all levels, officials, employees, and residents of the county, just as they had supported the Red Army’s river crossing during the Long March, generously donated funds to build a bridge here. The bridge, with a total length of 607.14 meters and a deck width of 15 meters, was successfully completed and opened to traffic on May 1, 1997. On October 1, 1996, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March, President [redacted], while inspecting the old revolutionary base areas of southern Jiangxi, learned that Yudu was building a bridge at the historic crossing site where the Central Red Army had crossed the Yudu River during the Long March. He gladly inscribed the name “Yudu Long March Bridge” for the bridge.