Gaoping Tunnel Warfare Site

Gaoping Tunnel Warfare Site

The Gaoping Tunnel Warfare Site is a cultural relics protection unit of Zhengding County.

On November 13, 1982, it was designated as a county-level key cultural relics protection unit by the People’s Government of Zhengding County.

The nationally popular film "Tunnel Warfare" is well known to all, and Gaoping Village in Quyangqiao Township, Zhengding County, is the prototype village for the movie. During his time working in Zhengding, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Gaoping Village twice to conduct research and inspect the tunnel warfare site.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Gaoping Village carried out the famous tunnel warfare against the Japanese army. From the winter of 1942 to the autumn of 1943, in order to better combat the Japanese invaders, the villagers of Gaoping, under the leadership of militia captain Liu Shazi, began digging tunnels. The village had a total of three main lines inside the village, three main lines outside, and additional branch lines connecting to various households. They moved 100,000 cubic meters of earth, creating a tunnel network over 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers) long that allowed for both attack and defense. During the war, the Gaoping militia engaged in fierce battles with the enemy using tunnel warfare, mine warfare, and flexible, ingenious tactics. They fought in over 50 battles of varying sizes, repelling multiple enemy attacks, and became a renowned “Model Anti-Enemy Village” and “Red Fortress Village” in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region. In 1963, Zhengding suffered from severe flooding, causing most of the tunnels in Gaoping Village to collapse. The current layout extends from north to south, with a preserved total tunnel length of over 600 meters and eight various tunnel exits.

Gaoping Village: The village got its name from its geographical location at the southern edge of the foothills of the Hengshan Mountain Range, characterized by high and flat terrain—hence the name “Gaoping,” which means “High and Flat,” and the name has been used ever since... More details about Gaoping Village++