Central China Liberation Memorial Hall

Central China Liberation Memorial Hall

The Central China Liberation Memorial Hall is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a classic red tourism site.

The Central China Liberation Memorial Hall is located in the middle section of Wenfeng Road, Baofeng County, Pingdingshan City, and was officially opened on July 1, 2014. With an exhibition area of 3,860 square meters, the hall houses offices, a social education department, a security department, and a visitor service center.

In the five years since its opening, the Central China Liberation Memorial Hall has welcomed over 600,000 visitors from home and abroad. It has become an important venue for the public to receive revolutionary education, playing a positive role in promoting outstanding red revolutionary culture and socialist core values. The memorial hall has been designated as a National Defense Education Base by the provincial government, a Party History Education Base by the Provincial Party History Commission, a Patriotic Education Demonstration Base by the Provincial Propaganda Department, and has been rated as a 3A-level tourist attraction.

In 1947, after the Chinese People's Liberation Army shifted from strategic defense to strategic offense, the Liu (Bocheng) and Deng (Xiaoping) forces of the Shanxi–Hebei–Shandong–Henan Field Army made a thousand-mile leap into the Dabie Mountains, the Chen (Geng) and Xie (Fuzhi) Corps crossed the Yellow River and advanced into western Henan, and the Chen (Yi) and Su (Yu) forces of the East China Field Army crossed the Longhai Railway and marched into southern Henan, northern Anhui, and northern Jiangsu. These three forces formed a “品”-shaped deployment, maneuvering across the Yangtze, Huai, Yellow, and Han rivers, annihilating, diverting, and drawing in large numbers of Kuomintang troops, rapidly liberating most of the Central Plains region. In February 1948, the main force of the Liu-Deng army moved out of the Dabie Mountains to recuperate in northern Anhui; in mid-April, they advanced into western Henan and joined forces with the Chen-Xie Corps and the Chen (Shiji) and Tang (Liang) Corps of the East China Field Army. Unified under the command of Liu and Deng, they launched extensive mobile operations. By the end of April, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping led the Central Plains Bureau and the headquarters of the Shanxi–Hebei–Shandong–Henan Field Army to settle in Baofeng, western Henan.

On May 9, 1948, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission decided that, apart from the existing jurisdiction of the Central China Liberated Area, all regions south of the Longhai Railway, north of the Yangtze River, and extending to the Sichuan–Shaanxi border would be designated as the Central Plains Liberated Area. The Central Plains Bureau was to be headed by Deng Xiaoping as First Secretary, Chen Yi as Second Secretary, and Deng Zihui as Third Secretary, with a committee comprising Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Deng Zihui, Li Xiannian, Song Renqiong, Su Yu, Li Xuefeng, Chen Geng, Zhang Zishan, Xie Fuzhi, and Liu Zijiu. The Central Plains Military Region was re-established, with the Shanxi–Hebei–Shandong–Henan Field Army under the Liu-Deng and Chen-Xie forces renamed as the Central Plains Field Army. The Central Plains Military Region and the Central Plains Field Army were to be commanded by Liu Bocheng as Commander-in-Chief, Deng Xiaoping as Political Commissar, Chen Yi as First Deputy Commander-in-Chief (while also retaining his roles as Commander and Political Commissar of the East China Field Army), Li Xiannian as Second Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Deputy Political Commissars Deng Zihui and Zhang Zishan (the latter also serving as Director of the Political Department), and Chief of Staff Li Da. The Central Plains Military Region and the Central Plains Field Army oversaw the western Henan, southern Henan–northern Anhui–northern Jiangsu, Jianghan, Tongbai, western Anhui, Eyu (Hubei-Henan), and southern Shaanxi military districts, as well as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 9th, and 11th columns and the 38th Army (later reassigned to the southern Shaanxi military district), along with the 3rd, 8th, and 10th columns of the East China Field Army’s Chen-Shi and Tang-Liang Corps, which were temporarily placed under the command of the Central Plains Field Army.

Baofeng was liberated in November 1947 and once served as the headquarters of the Fifth Sub-bureau of the Henan–Shaanxi–Hubei District. Its strategic location was of great importance. In line with the Central Committee’s intention to stabilize the command headquarters for unified coordination of operations between the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army in the Central Plains, at the end of April 1948, the Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Military Region of the Central Committee relocated to Yuguanying Village and Yanggang Village in Baofeng. Around May 26, the Central Plains Bureau, the headquarters of the Central Plains Military Region, and the political department of the Central Plains Military Region moved into Zhao Guanying Village, Beizhangzhuang Village, and Liulin Village in Shangjiuwu Town, northwest of the county seat, respectively. The Central Plains Bureau assigned Wang Zhijie, a cadre from the Policy Research Office, to concurrently serve as the Party Secretary of Baofeng County, making Baofeng a key county for piloting new district policies, with Deng Zihui and Li Xuefeng personally guiding the process and summarizing experiences. At the time, troops and supplies sent from the Taiyue, Taihang, and North China liberated areas to various battlefields in Henan–Shaanxi–Hubei all passed through Baofeng for transit.

As the political, military, and cultural center of the Central Plains at the time, Baofeng became the capital of the Central Plains Liberated Area. Leaders of the Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Military Region deployed and directed major battles such as the South Wan, Kaifeng, Suixian-Zhoukou, Xiangfan, Zhengzhou, Tongbai, and Jianghan campaigns here. Three important meetings were also held here to convey the spirit of the Central Committee’s meetings and to study and plan issues related to party and army rectification. A series of significant new district policies were issued here, including mobilizing the masses for land reform and rent and interest reduction, establishing people’s governments, restoring and developing industry and commerce, strengthening financial and economic work, building local armed forces, developing education and cultural initiatives, and founding institutions such as the Central Plains University, the Central Plains Military and Political University, and the Western Henan Administrative Cadre School, which trained a large number of cadres and talents urgently needed by the nation. The Central Plains Liberated Area was developed and consolidated, and the people of Baofeng made significant contributions to the liberation and development of the Central Plains.

On October 22, 1948, the Zhengzhou Campaign was victorious. Leaders including Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Liu Bocheng, and Deng Zihui subsequently went to the Huaihai front to direct operations. The Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Military Region headquarters also completely relocated out of Baofeng on November 13.

Leaders such as Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yi, Deng Zihui, Zhang Zishan, Li Xuefeng, and Li Da strategized in Baofeng, unifying the command of the Central Plains Field Army and the East China Field Army. They dismantled the Kuomintang’s defensive system in the Central Plains, reversed the war situation, ensured the great victory of the Central Committee’s Central Plains strategy, laid the foundation for the Huaihai Campaign, and accelerated the progress of the Liberation War and the nationwide victory.

The theme of the basic permanent exhibition is “A Thousand-Mile Leap, Competing for the Central Plains,” consisting of six units: Advancing into the Central Plains, Settling in Baofeng, Consolidating the Central Plains, the Baofeng Conferences, Strategizing in the Central Plains, and Marching toward the Huaihai. The exhibition, guided by the “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party” and the “Resolution on Certain Historical Issues Since the Founding of the Nation,” and based on authoritative works such as the “History of the Communist Party of China” (approved by the Central Committee of the CPC), the “History of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army,” the “History of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Battles,” the “Chinese Military Encyclopedia,” and the “History of the Second Field Army” (all approved by the Central Military Commission), uses documents, photographs, and artifacts to comprehensively showcase the red culture of the older generation of revolutionaries—such as Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yi—leading the Central Plains Bureau and the Central Plains Military Region of the Central Committee in their battles and work in Baofeng during the Liberation War period. It fully reflects the combat journey of the People’s Liberation Army in liberating the Central Plains under the leadership of the Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, and Chairman Mao Zedong.

Further Reading:

· National Third-Class Museum of China