Former Residence of Comrade Mao Zedong in Kangdu

Former Residence of Comrade Mao Zedong in Kangdu

The Former Residence of Comrade Mao Zedong in Kangdu is a classic red tourism attraction.

Former Residence of Comrade Mao Zedong:

Located in Kangdu Village, Taihe Town, about 30 kilometers from the county seat, it borders Lichuan to the north, connects to Guangchang to the south, lies next to the Wuyi Mountains to the east, and beyond the mountain pass is Jianning County in Fujian Province.

Kangdu Village was one of the consolidated Soviet areas of Nanfeng County during the Red Army’s counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaigns. After the first counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign, the Red Army came to Kangdu to fight local tyrants and carry out revolutionary propaganda activities. During the second counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign, when the Red Army captured Jianning, they stationed in Kangdu Village. In early June 1931, after achieving victory in the second counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign, the General Headquarters and the General Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army moved from Jianning County in Fujian to “Ning Family Mansion” on Xiajie Street, Kangdu Market, Nanfeng. On June 21–22, the First Front Army’s General Front Committee held its first expanded meeting and the ninth meeting of the General Front Committee here to discuss the current situation and action plans—this is the famous “Kangdu Meeting.”

Mao Zedong, Secretary of the General Front Committee, along with committee members Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Tan Zhenlin, and Zhou Yisu, representatives of the Central Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party in the Soviet Area such as Wang Jiaxiang, and military and local leaders including Yuan Guoping, Tan Zheng, Cai Huawen, Song Renqiong, Gu Bai, and Guo Huayu—16 people in total—attended the meeting. The “Kangdu Meeting” reviewed the experience of the second counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign, decided to strengthen political propaganda, reinforce the construction of the Red Army and local armed forces, gather resources, reduce expenditures to ensure military supplies, and also studied the battle zones for the third counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign. The “Kangdu Meeting” had great significance for establishing the Jian (Ning)–Li (Chuan)–Tai (He) base area, building up the Red Army, and securing victory in the third counter-“encirclement and suppression” campaign. It laid the political, organizational, military, and economic foundation for the victory in the third campaign, marking a glorious chapter in China’s military and revolutionary history.

In Kangdu Village, many revolutionary relics and sites left by the Red Army are still preserved, including: the former site of the General Headquarters of the First Front Army of the Red Army, Mao Zedong’s Former Residence, the former site of the General Political Department of the First Front Army, the former site of the First Front Army’s headquarters radio station, the Red Army hospital, the Red Army bank, Red Army slogans, the former site of the Kangdu Township Soviet Government, Red Army trenches, air-raid shelters, and the former site of the Fourth Sub-district Command of the Jiangxi Military Region of the Red Army. Nanfeng County allocated special funds for the development of the Kangdu Meeting site, fully tapping into red tourism resources. The “Kangdu Meeting Site Exhibition Hall” has been renovated, meeting documents and slogans have been organized and mounted, and a new red tourism village has been built. Currently, the site of the “Kangdu Meeting” has become an important patriotic education base, receiving over 20,000 visitors annually.