Mao Zedong's Former Residence in Anyuan

Mao Zedong's Former Residence in Anyuan

In October 1921, after attending the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and returning to Hunan, Mao Zedong established the CPC Hunan Branch and personally served as its secretary. Since Anyuan was located at the border between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, the labor movement there at the time was under the leadership of the Hunan Party organization. To implement the resolutions of the First CPC National Congress, Mao came to Anyuan that autumn to initiate the labor movement.

At that time, Mao’s public identity was as a teacher at the First Normal School of Hunan and the head (equivalent to principal) of its affiliated primary school. Using this public role, he visited Anyuan under the guise of visiting relatives, sightseeing, and promoting mass education, staying at No. 41, Bafangjing.

This house was built by the mine administration in the early days of the Pingxiang Coal Mine as staff housing, located about 80 meters west of the Zongping Lane of the Anyuan Coal Mine. It is a three-room brick-and-tile flat-roofed house, covering an area of about 100 square meters. At the time, it was the residence of Mao Zi Yun, section chief of Section A of Zongping Lane, also known as “Teacher Mao.” Mao Zi Yun was from Xiangtan, Hunan, and was an old friend of Mao Zedong’s father. The two had done rice business together in Changsha. Mao Zedong took advantage of this fellow-townsman connection to stay here. The middle room was the main hall, and the left room served as Mao Zedong’s bedroom. Mao stayed here for a week, and Mao Zi Yun even arranged for Zhang Zhulin, a water carrier from his household, to serve as a guide and accompany Mao on his rounds.

During his investigation in Anyuan, Mao went deep into workplaces such as coal washing platforms, boiler rooms, and dining quarters, and descended into the harshest parts of the mines to have heartfelt conversations with workers. He shared bamboo pipe tobacco with them, extensively interacted with the workers, and conducted research. Starting with casual chats about daily life, he learned about the hardships of the workers and the class conditions in Anyuan. Seizing the moment, he used the sufferings the workers had personally endured and Marxist principles to educate and enlighten the workers about their class consciousness, helping them realize that their suffering was not predestined but the result of oppression and exploitation by imperialism, feudal forces, and bureaucratic compradors. He inspired them to understand that to improve their status, they must rely on their own unity and struggle to overthrow their oppressors and exploiters.

Through this investigation, Mao personally experienced the harsh lives of the Anyuan workers, gained a genuine understanding of their thoughts, and for the first time applied Marxist perspectives to his research on the Anyuan labor movement. This led to a qualitative leap in his revolutionary thinking, further clarifying his revolutionary direction and confirming that Anyuan would soon become a place where the labor movement could rapidly develop. Meanwhile, the workers, through their conversations with Mao, came to understand the importance of solidarity, laying an important foundation for the CPC to carry out the labor movement in Anyuan and fully demonstrating the pragmatic working style and attitude of Communists in engaging with the masses and conducting investigations.

After the Pingxiang Coal Mine closed in 1939, this house has been preserved in its original form and was inhabited by residents. Although No. 41, Bafangjing has weathered many years and undergone several repairs, it still retains its original appearance.

In December 2006, it was listed as a Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units