Former Site of the Headquarters of the Eastern Advance Column of the 129th Division, Eighth Route Army

Former Site of the Headquarters of the Eastern Advance Column of the 129th Division, Eighth Route Army

The former site of the headquarters of the Eastern Advance Column of the 129th Division, Eighth Route Army, is a cultural relics protection unit at the provincial level in Hebei Province.

Year: 1938

Location: North Street, Nangong City, Xingtai, Hebei Province

Cultural Relics Level: Provincial

Approval Date: February 7, 2001

The former site of the headquarters of the Eastern Advance Column (Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column) of the 129th Division, Eighth Route Army, is located on the east side of North Street in Nangong City, Xingtai, Hebei Province. This site was originally the Nangong branch of the Huaxing Public Tobacco Distribution Office under the Tianjin British-American Tobacco Company, built in 1919. It covers a total area of 850 square meters, with existing structures including 12 rooms in the west building, 5 rooms in the north wing, and 3 rooms each in the east and south wings. It serves as a patriotic education base in Xingtai City and a key provincial cultural relics protection unit.

In 1937, after the full outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, to establish anti-Japanese bases behind enemy lines, following the strategic deployment of the Party Central Committee, the 129th Division deployed troops to form the Eastern Advance Guerrilla Column (abbreviated as the “Eastern Advance Column”). Led by Commander Chen Zaidao and Political Commissar Li Jingyu, they marched out of the Taihang Mountains, crossed the Beiping-Hankou Railway, advanced into southern Hebei, and entered Nangong County on February 8, 1938. The headquarters was set up at “Huaxing Public.” Party, government, and military leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, Song Renqiong, Chen Zaidao, Liu Zhijian, Yang Xiufeng, Li Jingyu, Ma Guorui, Chen Geng, Xu Guangyi, and Sun Jixian successively arrived in Nangong. Here, they planned strategies, re-established and developed grassroots Party organizations, led the people of southern Hebei in developing anti-Japanese armed forces, creating bases, fighting reactionaries and rebels, and engaging in tenacious struggles against the Japanese invaders.

They trained a large number of anti-Japanese military and political cadres. Successive institutions such as the Southern Hebei Anti-Japanese Military and Political Cadre School, the CCP Jinan–Henan–Hebei Provincial Party Committee Party School, the Southern Hebei Political Cadre School, and the Southern Hebei Anti-Japanese War College were established, training over 4,000 cadres. They established anti-Japanese military and political organizations. Successive bodies included the CCP Jinan–Henan–Hebei Border Region Provincial Committee, the CCP Southern Hebei Third Special Committee, the Southern Hebei Anti-Japanese Military and Political Committee, the Southern Hebei Anti-Japanese Military District, the CCP Southern Hebei Regional Committee, and the Southern Hebei Administrative Office, governing over 50 counties.

They united anti-Japanese forces. To promote anti-Japanese propaganda, publications such as the Southern Hebei Daily, Salvation People’s Newspaper, and Mobilization Weekly were founded. At the column headquarters, Deng Xiaoping, Xu Xiangqian, and Song Renqiong met with U.S. Embassy military attaché Evans Carlson, providing him with detailed information about guerrilla warfare in southern Hebei and exposing the fact that the United States was supplying war materials to Japan. They also held talks with Lu Zhonglin, Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Government under the Kuomintang, and Shi Yousan, Commander of the Kuomintang’s 10th Army Corps, demonstrating the Party’s sincerity in unity and joint resistance against Japan.

They guided the establishment of more than ten anti-Japanese mass organizations, including the Nangong County Cultural Circles Anti-Japanese Salvation Association and the Shop Assistants’ Anti-Japanese Salvation Association. They expanded anti-Japanese armed forces. They suppressed the rebellion of the reactionary “Sixi Sect” armed group, incorporated over 10,000 irregular troops, and expanded the Eastern Advance Column. They formed field units such as the Tianjin–Pukou Detachment, the Youth Column, the Zhu Xian Column, and the Independent Second Division. They opened up the first plain-based anti-Japanese base in the country, making significant contributions to the overall victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. On February 9, 1939, Nangong County fell, and the headquarters relocated to rural areas, continuing to lead the people of southern Hebei in a new round of guerrilla warfare.

Emphasis was placed on the preservation and utilization of the site. Funds were invested to renovate and restore the offices of Deng Xiaoping, Xu Xiangqian, Song Renqiong, Chen Zaidao, Liu Zhijian, and Yang Xiufeng, collecting over 130 cultural relics and photographs. Events such as the “Built with Flesh and Blood — 50th Anniversary Victory Exhibition of the War of Resistance Against Japan,” the 100th Birthday Exhibition of Deng Xiaoping, the Great Figures Portrait Exhibition, forums for veteran cadres, and poetry recitals were held here. Veteran proletarian revolutionaries such as Chen Zaidao, Song Renqiong, Zhao Yimin, Ma Guorui, Xu Guangyi, and family members of Yang Xiufeng visited multiple times. In recent years, former central leaders including Zhang Quanjing, former Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Zhaoxing, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ren Shaosu, former Director of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission, Bai Keming, former Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, Ji Yunshi, former Governor of Hebei, along with children of revolutionary veterans, veteran cadres who moved southward, veterans, officials and masses from surrounding counties and cities, youths, students, and merchants from other regions, have visited in the tens of thousands for tours and learning.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units in Hebei Province