Former Site of the Headquarters for the Central Red Army’s Breakthrough of the Third Blockade Line During the Long March

Former Site of the Headquarters for the Central Red Army’s Breakthrough of the Third Blockade Line During the Long March

The former site of the headquarters for the Central Red Army’s breakthrough of the third blockade line during the Long March is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism destination.

The former site of the headquarters for the Central Red Army’s breakthrough of the third blockade line during the Long March is located in Yizhang County. It served as the command and activity center for the Central Red Army during the initial stage of the Long March in November 1934, when it broke through the Nationalist Party’s third blockade line. The site comprises eight cultural heritage relics: the headquarters ruins (Qingbai Hall of the Kuang Ancestral Hall and Yuan Public Hall), the former residence of Mao Zedong (Wenchang Pavilion), the former residences of Zhou Enlai and Liu Bocheng, the former site of the Red Army Bank Exchange Office, the battle site at Baishah River Ferry, the former site where wounded Red Army soldiers were treated, and the site of the Red Army’s recruitment efforts (remains of the Canton–Hankou Railway – Yizhang Baishidu Section). In October 1934, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic began leading the Central Red Army on a strategic relocation from Ruijin and other locations in Jiangxi Province. On November 10, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Bocheng, and others led troops into Yizhang, commanding the capture of Baishidu, a key town on the Nationalist-controlled Canton–Hankou Railway. They extensively carried out party and government building as well as recruitment work in Baishidu, implementing the Party’s industrial and commercial policies. The capture of both Yizhang County and Baishidu marked a crucial success in the Central Red Army’s breakthrough of the Nationalist Army’s third blockade line. From November 7 to 18, over 86,000 soldiers of the First Front Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army spent 12 days successfully passing through Yizhang and continuing westward, taking the first step of the Long March of 12,500 kilometers and boosting the Red Army’s confidence to press forward.

On October 7, 2019, the cluster of former sites of the headquarters for the Central Red Army’s breakthrough of the third blockade line during the Long March was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Ninth Batch of Hunan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units