Former Site of the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army

Former Site of the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army

The former site of the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army is a classic red tourism attraction.

The former site of the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army — Dai Family Residence is located at the Dai Family Residence in Beishan Village, Xiakou, Ma’ao Town, Xiushui County (formerly Beishan Primary School).

On August 29, 1937, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the CPC successfully negotiated with the Wuhan Field Headquarters of the KMT, forming the anti-Japanese national united front in the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Border Region. The Provincial Committee reorganized the Red Army guerrilla forces that remained in the region after the main force’s Long March into the 1st Guerrilla Detachment of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Anti-Japanese Army (later known as the 1st Guerrilla Detachment of the New Fourth Army). To quickly assemble and consolidate these forces, the Provincial Committee decided to dispatch three individuals — Li Chengtie, Fu Biao, and Zhu Huangfu — to Xiushui County to establish the Xiushui Communication Office of the Anti-Japanese Army (later known as the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army). This office acted as an outpost of the Pingjiang (Ping) Communication Office of the New Fourth Army, while internally maintaining the structure of the Pingxiang-Xiushui-Tonggu (Ping-Xiu-Tong) Central County Committee. Li Chengtie, the secretary of the Central County Committee, and Fu Biao, the deputy secretary, served as the director and deputy director of the communication office, respectively, operating under a “two entities, one team” organizational model.

In September, Li Chengtie and others from the Ping-Xiu-Tong Central County Committee held negotiations in Zhajin and Ma’ao, Xiushui County, with local KMT county and district governments regarding the cessation of civil war, unified resistance against Japan, and specific issues such as the provisioning of guerrilla troops. Following successful negotiations, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Provincial Committee officially established the Xiushui Communication Office of the Anti-Japanese Army at Xiefeng Tobacco Shop on the old street of Ma’ao Market. Soon after, the office (Ping-Xiu-Tong Central County Committee) relocated to the Dai Family Residence in Beishan Village, Xiakou. Within just over two months, from September to mid-November, the communication office assembled more than 200 Red Army guerrillas and young volunteers who had joined the anti-Japanese army, dispatching them to the New Fourth Army’s Pingjiang Office in Jiayi, Pingjiang County, for formal organization. During this period, a total of over 600 Red Army guerrillas from various border regions of Xiushui successively arrived in Jiayi to be incorporated into the 1st Guerrilla Detachment of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Anti-Japanese Army.

The Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army also leveraged its legitimate public status to actively engage in anti-Japanese united front work. It negotiated with authorities for the release of arrested Communists and revolutionary masses, liaised with and won over local village defense heads to join the anti-Japanese effort, and restored or established grassroots Party organizations in areas such as Zhajin, Ma’ao, and Longmen in Pingjiang County. These efforts laid a solid foundation for the formation of the Xiushui Central County Committee of the CPC in February 1938 (which oversaw Party organizations in Xiushui, Wuning, Tonggu, and Yifeng counties, as well as the Frontline Work Group of the 30th National Revolutionary Army established in autumn 1938).

In December 1937, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Provincial Committee was reorganized into the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee per directives from the CPC Central Committee. In the same month, the Special Committee renamed the Xiushui Communication Office of the Anti-Japanese Army to the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army. Li Chengtie was transferred to Yan’an for further studies, and Lu Zhenlu was appointed as the new director of the communication office. In January 1938, the headquarters of the New Fourth Army was established in Nanchang. The 1st Guerrilla Detachment of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Anti-Japanese Army was reorganized into the 1st Regiment of the 1st Detachment of the New Fourth Army and was ordered to advance to the anti-Japanese front lines in southern Anhui. In the same month, the KMT Special Committee transformed the New Fourth Army Office in Jiayi into a New Fourth Army Liaison Office, disbanded the Xiushui Communication Office of the New Fourth Army, and established the Xiushui Work Group of the CPC, appointing Zhu Qinglong as its director.

The Dai Family Residence in Beishan was also the site of the “Beishan Emergency Meeting” held by the first Party organization in Xiushui County — the Executive Committee of the Xiushui Branch of the CPC. It served as the headquarters of the Xiushui Central County Committee during the nationwide War of Resistance. The residence was also home to the two brothers Gan Tewu (younger) and Gan Zhuowu (elder): Gan Tewu, the acting secretary of the temporary Xiushui County Committee and propaganda minister of the Northern Jiangxi Sub-district, and Gan Zhuowu, a member of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee and secretary of the Xiushui Central County Committee. It was also the site where martyr Gan Zhuowu met his end.

In April 1927, after Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT launched the anti-revolutionary April 12 Coup in Shanghai, the once-thriving Great Revolution began to falter. On June 7, the KMT in Xiushui County, colluding with local landlords and gentry, orchestrated the shocking anti-revolutionary “June 7 Incident,” resulting in the massacre and arrest of numerous Communists and leaders of the agrarian movement. County and district Party branches formed through Kuomintang-Communist cooperation were completely destroyed, revolutionary groups were forced to disband, marking the failure of the Great Revolution in Xiushui. In late July, the Executive Committee of the Xiushui Branch of the CPC secretly convened the “Beishan Emergency Meeting” at the home of Gan Tewu, the organizational officer of the committee in Beishan, Ma’ao (Dai Family Residence). The meeting reviewed lessons learned from the June 7 Incident, shifted the Party’s focus immediately to rural areas, designated Renxiang and Xixiang townships as key areas of work, and consolidated the peasant armies of both townships into the Xiushui County Peasant Self-Defense Army. Ding Changsheng, formerly a member of the Hankou Workers' Patrol Corps, was appointed captain, and Yu Jingbang served as the Party representative. By late August to early September 1927, the Xiushui County Peasant Self-Defense Army became one of the armed forces that participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising. The Beishan Emergency Meeting laid a solid foundation for the growth and development of the Party organization in Xiushui during the Agrarian Revolutionary period.

In February 1938, the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee decided to establish the Xiushui Central County Committee of the CPC, headquartered at the Dai Family Residence in Beishan, Ma’ao. Luo Qixun was appointed secretary, Zhu Qinglong as head of organization, Zhu Huangfu as head of propaganda, and Gan Zhuowu as head of united front work. In February 1939, Gan Zhuowu succeeded as secretary of the Central County Committee. On May 26, 1940, Gan Zhuowu was assassinated by plainclothes agents of the KMT authorities at the Dai Family Residence.

Qingban Bridge and the old street in Ma’ao Town were historically key points along the only ancient official road and post route connecting Xiushui County to Hunan and Hubei in an east-west direction. On the early morning of September 9, 1927, the main force of the Autumn Harvest Uprising — the headquarters and 1st Regiment of the 1st Division of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army — initiated the uprising at Zihua Dun in Xiushui County. They passed through Xibai, Huangtian, Shuangjing, Muzu Lake, Xiukou, and the areas of Qingban Bridge, Huluo, and Xiakou in Ma’ao Town.

This former site was built in the late Qing Dynasty and is a typical southern-style quadrangle courtyard structure. It features a large central courtyard, is constructed with earth and wood, faces east with a west orientation, and measures 23 meters in width and 28 meters in depth, with a height of 7 meters. The main structure remains intact and is relatively well preserved. In 2010, county authorities allocated special funds for partial repairs. Behind the Dai Family Residence, there are separate tombs dedicated to martyrs Gan Tewu and Gan Zhuowu.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units