Former Site of the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital

Former Site of the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital

The Former Site of the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital is a cultural tourism attraction.

Former Site of the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital. In the first half of 1931, a rear hospital for the 35th Red Army (reorganized as the 3rd Independent Red Division in October) was established in Furongzhai, Yunmenling, Huichang County. Due to the unstable situation in Yunmenling at the time, in July 1932, the hospital was relocated to Banshansi Temple on Mount Huichang. After the establishment of the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military District in April 1933, it was renamed the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital.

The hospital had departments for internal medicine, surgery, and an operating room, capable of treating wounded and sick soldiers except those requiring major surgery. The facilities were rudimentary, and there was a shortage of medicine—Western medicine was scarce, so traditional Chinese herbal remedies were commonly used. For instance, when many suffered from malaria ("shaking chills") or dysentery, herbs such as plantain herb, bracken fern, and sheep’s cry grass were boiled for treatment. Western medicines available included morphine, red medicine, iodine tincture, lime acid, potassium permanganate, boric acid powder, and vaseline (often replaced with lard). Bandages and cotton were mostly substituted with sterilized white cloth and cotton taken from quilts.

After the hospital was established, leaders such as Mao Zedong and others, along with the people of Huichang, showed great concern and strong support for the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital. During his time in Huichang, Mao Zedong gave the eggs sent to him for nourishment to wounded and sick Red Army soldiers. X-, the secretary of the Huichang Central County Committee, frequently visited the wounded in the hospital. Li Jingquan, the political commissar of the 3rd Independent Red Division, often inspected and guided the work at the hospital, and Chief of Staff Song Shilun once received treatment there. Local women’s departments at the county and district levels regularly organized people to bring large amounts of supplies to comfort the wounded, helping them by washing clothes, feeding them, and giving sponge baths. Cured soldiers and their families spontaneously came to the hospital to express their gratitude. The county labor union and the propaganda department of the Young Communist League also often performed for the patients in the mountains. These acts greatly inspired the medical staff and wounded soldiers.

In 1934, during the intense phase of the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Central Soviet Area, Banshansi Temple was filled with wounded and sick soldiers, while others were accommodated at Liuzu Temple, Xu Family Ancestral Hall in the county town, and other locations. Medical personnel made daily rounds across these sites to treat the injured. From its establishment until the Long March with the Central Red Army, the Guangdong-Gan Border Region Military Hospital diligently treated soldiers and local civilians alike, earning widespread praise from fighters and the public. In just over three years, it cured thousands of patients and made indelible contributions to consolidating and defending the Central Soviet Area.