Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum

Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum

The Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, a classic red tourism destination, and a patriotic education base.

The Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum (Museum of Revolution in Jinggang Mountains) is a Chinese historical museum focused on revolutionary heritage sites. It was established to commemorate Jinggangshan, the first rural revolutionary base created by the Communist Party of China. Located on Ciping Hill in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province, it was opened to the public in 1959.

The museum houses nearly 3,000 cultural relics, including 860 originals and over 2,000 replicas. Among the precious items are the oil lamp, inkstone, and other objects used by Mao Zedong when he wrote "Why Is It That Red Political Power Can Exist in China?" and "The Struggle in Jinggangshan," as well as the carrying pole used by Zhu De for transporting grain in Jinggangshan.

The main exhibition reflects the history of the revolutionary struggle in Jinggangshan. It displays nearly 600 items, including documents, artifacts, photographs, and supplementary exhibits, with all artworks created by renowned contemporary Chinese artists. The display incorporates modern techniques such as sound, light, and electricity. Another key function of the museum is the restoration, preservation, and promotion of revolutionary sites in Jinggangshan, most of which are located in Ciping and the Greater and Lesser Wujing areas. Most sites are presented in their original state, with a few featuring supplementary exhibits. The five major passes of the Jinggangshan military base still preserve remnants of fortifications built by the Fourth Red Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. To commemorate the victory of the Huangyangjie Defense Battle, two monuments were erected at the Huangyangjie Pass.

Located in the middle section of Hongjun South Road in Ciping, the museum is nestled against a mountain and faces water, overlooking the group of revolutionary heritage sites in Ciping across a lake. Originally built in 1958, the museum was named “Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum” by Zhu De. It is a comprehensive, local museum dedicated to studying the revolutionary struggles of the Jinggangshan base area, featuring simple yet solemn architecture with a distinct ethnic style. It serves as an excellent site for revolutionary tradition education.

The museum covers a construction area of 3,065 square meters, with over 2,000 square meters of exhibition space. It has seven exhibition halls and one audiovisual theater, with a display line of 300 meters. The exhibits include nearly 600 items such as documents, artifacts, photographs, and supplementary displays. The museum houses a collection of over 5,000 various revolutionary historical relics, including more than 60 originals. In addition, there are displays of photographs, inscriptions, and poems by many national leaders and veteran proletarian revolutionaries, including Mao Zedong and Zhu De, from their visits back to Jinggangshan after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Over the decades, the museum’s exhibitions have undergone four revisions. In 1987, a major adjustment and renovation took place, adopting a comprehensive exhibition approach integrating images, text, artifacts, sound, light, and electricity. Realistic simulated scenes and sculptures were also created to provide a full introduction to the revolutionary history of Jinggangshan and to recreate the heroic deeds of the older generation of revolutionaries and the soldiers and civilians of Jinggangshan.

In 2005, the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum was designated as the No. 1 Project of the Red Tourism Initiative under the Central Propaganda Department. On this basis, new exhibition halls were added.

In 2008, the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum opened to the public free of charge.

Further Reading:

· National First-Class Museum of China

· First Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units