Former Revolutionary Site of Yancunpu

Former Revolutionary Site of Yancunpu

The Former Revolutionary Site of Yancunpu is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Former Revolutionary Site of Yancunpu is located six kilometers northeast of Fan County, on the eastern side of Yancunpu, bordering the Jin Di embankment to the north and adjacent to Yingtianyuan Town in Shenxian County, Shandong Province. To the south lies the Puyi Highway, and to the west is the Xin Fan Highway. The site features nine well-preserved brick-and-wooden structure houses, covering an area of 831 square meters, with indoor relics kept intact.

Fan County is a veteran revolutionary base and one of the revolutionary bases in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan, guerrilla warfare was waged here. In early 1940, the Kuomintang launched an anti-communist upsurge, and the 39th Group Army stationed in Qingfeng and Puyang intensified their anti-communist activities, severely damaging our anti-Japanese organizations. In early March 1940, the Independent Brigade led by Comrade Yang Yong and seven other detachments launched an offensive against the enemy in the Puyang and Qingfeng areas, with the headquarters stationed in a courtyard at Yancunpu in Fan County (the present site). After six days of fierce fighting, the enemy was forced to retreat to the area east of Minquan County. With the victory of the campaign against the die-hard forces, more than ten counties in southwestern Shandong, including Puyang, Fan, and Guan, were successively liberated, and the Western Shandong Administrative Office was established (merged into the Hebei-Shandong Administrative Office in 1941).

Due to its unique geographical location, Yancunpu became the command center of the anti-Japanese war in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region. From autumn 1940 to spring 1942, with Yancunpu at its center—50 kilometers east of Yuncheng, 25 kilometers south of Juancheng, nearly 30 kilometers north of Chaoyang, and 20 kilometers west of Puyang and Qingfeng, where die-hard forces were entrenched—the enemy once claimed: “The Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army have lost all their wealth, leaving only a ‘broken rice bowl’ (a homophone for Puyang, Fan, and Guan). If we smash it, they’ll be completely finished!” But our comrades proudly retorted: “This ‘broken rice bowl’ is made of iron and steel—it can’t be smashed or shattered...” And indeed, that proved true. Throughout the eight-year War of Resistance and the three-year Liberation War, the people of Puyang, Fan, and Guan, under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, endured all kinds of severe tests. They demonstrated tenacious and indomitable revolutionary spirit, continuously grew and strengthened through struggle, and closely united around the Party. Through rent and interest reduction and land reform, they gradually eliminated the feudal system, changed their fate of being exploited and oppressed, and became the source of strength for achieving victory in the revolutionary war.

During the more than ten years of wartime, the party, government, and military leadership organs of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region, along with leaders such as Yang Yong, Yang Dezhi, Huang Jing, Duan Junyi, Wan Li, and Zeng Siyu, were stationed here for extended periods, planning and deploying combat missions. This made the area the political, economic, and cultural hub of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region. At the time, the local people affectionately referred to it as “Little Moscow” or “Little Yan’an.”

Post-Liberation Preservation

After liberation, several leaders continuously sent letters and inquiries about the condition of this revolutionary site. In 1973, Comrade Zeng Siyu, representing the Wuhan Military Region and the party, government, and military authorities of Henan Province, specially visited the Former Revolutionary Site of Yancunpu and the local villagers. Everyone sat down together, reminisced about the past, discussed the present, and took commemorative photos.

In 1977, during the Anyang regional cultural relics survey, the site was designated as a revolutionary memorial site. In October 1978, the Fan County People’s Government erected a protection monument and established a protection organization.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units