Lotus One-Rifle Memorial Hall

Lotus One-Rifle Memorial Hall

The Lotus One-Rifle Memorial Hall is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a cultural relics protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

Lotus One-Rifle Memorial Hall

A national 2A-level scenic spot and a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit. It is located on the right side of South Gate Square in the county town of Jiangxi Province and can be directly accessed via Jiefang Street South Road or Wai Zi Road. It is a thematic memorial hall that showcases the ancient architectural art of western Jiangxi and the glorious history of China's Second Revolutionary Civil War.

The central hall of the memorial hall displays some precious cultural relics and photographs. The right wing room adjacent to the central hall was the former residence of Comrades Mao Zedong and Fang Zhimin. On the right side of the main hall, over 90 precious cultural relics are displayed, including one rifle, with a focus on introducing the glorious history of this single rifle. In 1926, driven by the peasant movement in Hunan, a vigorous workers' and peasants' revolutionary movement emerged. All eight districts and 136 townships in the county established peasant associations, and the county town set up a general labor union. Additionally, two armed forces of workers and peasants were formed: the Peasant Self-Defense Corps and the County Town Security Team, which together possessed 60 rifles. After the establishment of these armed forces, to protect the interests of workers and peasants, they compelled local tyrants and evil gentry to reduce rents and interest rates, and launched movements to equalize grain storage and clear out grain, which were warmly welcomed by the poor workers and peasants. In late June 1927, Fang Zhimin, head of the Jiangxi Provincial Peasant Association, under the alias Li Tapai (Li Xiangsong), came to guide the peasant movement and resided at Binxing Hall. In 1935, Comrade Fang Zhimin wrote about his experiences during the movement in his work “A Brief Account of My Revolutionary Struggles.” In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the “April 12 Counterrevolutionary Coup” in Shanghai, forcing workers' and peasants' armed forces across the country to surrender their weapons. Local tyrants and evil gentry colluded with the reactionary Jingwei Team of the county town to attack trade unions, peasant associations, and the county party headquarters, enticing and coercing the county’s workers’ and peasants’ armed force, the Peasant Self-Defense Army, to hand over their weapons. After several battles, the peasant army suffered heavy losses, and nearly all the rifles involved in combat were lost. A group of comrades, led by He Guoqing, a squad leader of the peasant army and a member of the Communist Party, upheld justice and risked their lives to preserve one rifle for the revolution. To safeguard this rifle, He Guoqing disassembled it into three parts: the gun barrel was hidden in the spirit tablet of the He Family Ancestral Hall in Yanbei, the gun mechanism was buried in Longshan Rock, and the bullets were buried under the wind-tail tree in the courtyard of the ancestral hall. Later, due to the tense situation, Comrade He Guoqing took the rifle out again and hid it in Shiqiaotang, You County, Hunan. In pursuit of the rifle, the reactionaries burned the villages of Shijia in Jiudu and Lishan Village to ruins. He Guoqing’s father, He Chengmao, was burned alive by the enemy, and his younger brother also died a heroic death. On September 25, 1927, Mao Zedong led the troops of the Autumn Harvest Uprising from Luxi on their way to Jinggangshan, captured the county town, and stayed at Bin Guang Hall that night. The next morning, Mao Zedong convened a meeting with some responsible members of the county party organization, delivering an important speech on restoring and developing the party organization, waging armed struggle, and establishing rural revolutionary bases. In early November, Mao Zedong also presided over a joint meeting of the responsible members of the party organizations of Ninggang, Yongxin, and another county at Xiangshan An in Maoping, Ninggang. The meeting decided to restore the party organization and rebuild the local Red armed forces. In early 1928, the county special detachment was established, rebuilding the Red local armed force known as the Red Team. They took up the one rifle preserved after the failure of the Great Revolution and engaged in arduous guerrilla warfare. The local armed forces continued to grow, expanding from one rifle to more than 200, and continuously supplied personnel and weapons to the main Red Army forces. This is what Comrade Mao Zedong highly praised as "preserving one rifle" in his work “The Struggle in Jinggangshan.”

Further Reading:

· China National Third-Class Museum