Site of the Xincheng Battle

Site of the Xincheng Battle

The Site of the Xincheng Battle is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

Traveling 5 kilometers west from Eling, you will reach the Site of the Xincheng Battle. On February 18, 1928, Comrade Mao Zedong personally directed the Xincheng Battle from Qishan Hill beside the eastern gate of Xincheng. This battle annihilated one regular battalion and one Pacification Corps unit of the Kuomintang army, killed Battalion Commander Wang Guozheng, captured County Magistrate Zhang Kaiyang, took over 100 KMT soldiers prisoner, and seized several hundred rifles. It completely defeated the first punitive expedition launched by the Kuomintang army in Jiangxi, captured the whole of Ninggang County, and allowed the revolutionary base area of Jinggangshan to take initial shape. This victory is historically known as the “Great Victory at Xincheng.” After the founding of New China, to commemorate the battle, the southern gate tower was restored, and a memorial pavilion was built on Qishan Hill.

On February 18, 1928, Comrade Mao Zedong personally directed the Xincheng Battle from Qishan Hill beside the eastern gate of Xincheng. This battle annihilated one regular battalion and one Pacification Corps unit of the army, killed the army’s Battalion Commander Wang Guozheng, captured the county magistrate Zhang Kaiyang, took over 100 soldiers of the army prisoner, and seized several hundred rifles. It completely defeated the first punitive expedition launched by the army in Jiangxi, captured the whole of Ninggang County, and allowed the revolutionary base area of Jinggangshan to take initial shape. This victory is historically known as the “Great Victory at Xincheng.” After the founding of New China, to commemorate the battle, the southern gate tower was restored, and a memorial pavilion was built on Qishan Hill.

In January 1928, the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army was dividing its forces to mobilize the masses in Suichuan. Taking advantage of the situation, the enemy forces from Jiangxi deployed the Independent Battalion of the Third Army to station in Xincheng within Ninggang County. They colluded with the reactionary local armed Pacification Corps, attempting to attack our newly established revolutionary base. Upon learning of the situation, Comrade Mao Zedong ordered the Ninggang County Party organization to mobilize the masses to harass the enemy day and night. At the same time, he commanded the troops to return to Maoping and wait for an opportunity to strike the enemy.

On February 17, Comrade Mao Zedong held a military meeting at Panlong Academy in Maoping to study and arrange the battle plan for attacking Xincheng. Late at night, the two regiments of our army and over a thousand participating masses set off toward Xincheng along two routes and took up their predetermined positions. The troop deployment was as follows: the First Regiment’s First Battalion would lead the assault on the eastern gate, the Second Battalion would block the northern gate, the Third Battalion would feign an attack on the southern gate, while the entire Second Regiment would lie in ambush on the high ground on both sides outside the western gate. Comrade Mao Zedong directed the battle from Qishan Hill.

At dawn on the 18th, the enemy, as usual, went out for drills outside the southern gate. Our Third Battalion suddenly launched an attack, capturing over 30 rifles on the spot. The enemy retreated into the city and shut the gates to hold their ground. At that time, the First Battalion launched a fierce attack on the enemies at the eastern gate and set the gate on fire using kerosene and straw. Under the cover of machine gun fire, they climbed the ladders to scale the city wall. After intense fighting, they finally broke through the eastern gate. Subsequently, the southern gate was also taken by the Third Battalion. Seeing the gates fall, the enemy frantically opened the northern gate, attempting to flee toward Yongxin. However, they were met with a head-on assault from our Second Battalion and quickly retreated, then turned toward the western gate where enemy fire was lighter. Outside the western gate, they ran into the ambush circle of our Second Regiment. Attacked from both the front and rear, the enemy was annihilated. This battle eliminated one regular battalion and one Pacification Corps unit of the enemy, killed Battalion Commander Wang Guozheng, captured County Magistrate Zhang Kaiyang, took over 100 prisoners, and seized several hundred rifles.

The Xincheng Battle applied the combat principle of dividing forces to mobilize the masses and concentrating them to deal with the enemy. It thoroughly defeated the first punitive expedition launched by the Jiangxi enemy forces, thus capturing the whole of Ninggang County and allowing the revolutionary base area of Jinggangshan to take initial shape. In the past, Xincheng had walls encircling the city over 430 zhang long and over two zhang high, with four gate towers located to the east, south, west, and north. After liberation, to commemorate the Xincheng Battle, the southern gate tower was restored.

Jinggangshan Scenic Area – Here, proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation such as Mao Zedong, …, Chen Yi, and Peng Dehuai established China’s first rural revolutionary base area, igniting the spark of China’s revolution and blazing a uniquely Chinese revolutionary path of “encircling the cities from the countryside and seizing political power through armed struggle.” In those years, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, …, and others, the Red Army soldiers carried out arduous struggles, crushed multiple punitive expeditions launched by the … army, and achieved one great victory after another. They wrote a glorious chapter in the history of the Chinese people’s revolutionary struggle and were hailed as the “Cradle of the Revolution” and the “Foremost Mountain Under Heaven.” It has now become a sacred site for sightseeing, paying tribute, visiting, studying, as well as a major classroom for patriotic education and revolutionary tradition education.

Location of the Attraction

Eling Scenic Area, Jinggangshan

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangxi Province