Former Residence of Martyr Deng Fa

Former Residence of Martyr Deng Fa

The former residence of Deng Fa is located in Tanzhiting Village, Chengxi, Yunfu City. Built during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, it is the birthplace of Comrade Deng Fa, an outstanding proletarian revolutionary and a renowned leader of the Chinese and international labor movements. The residence is constructed of earthen bricks, tiles, and wood, consisting of 10 rooms in total. There is a side wing on the east with a backwater feature. The main structure measures 21.3 meters in length and 12.6 meters in width, with a floor area of 268.38 square meters. The front courtyard is 21.3 meters long and 6 meters wide, covering an area of 127.8 square meters. In December 1979, the former residence was designated as a Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit. In 1994, the protection zone and construction control area of the residence were established (Document Yue Fu [1994] No. 42). After multiple renovations, its original appearance has been preserved. Government funds were allocated for its restoration, and a Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall was also built. The hall features exhibition rooms displaying the life story and personal belongings of Martyr Deng Fa. It has now been listed as a Patriotic Education Base open to the public for visits and commemoration. Nearby the Deng Fa Residence, the “Deng Fa Memorial Primary School” and “Deng Fa Memorial Middle School” have also been established.

The former residence of Martyr Deng Fa stands as a testament to the hardships of China’s old society and the relentless struggle of our predecessors. It has been designated as a Patriotic Education Base open to the public for visits and commemoration.

Deng Fa, also known as Deng Yuanzhao, was born on March 7, 1906, into a peasant family in Shitang Village (now Dengfa Village), west of Yunfu County, Guangdong Province. Coming from a poor background, he received only primary education. In 1921, compelled by family circumstances, Deng Fa went to Guangzhou to work as a handyman, later finding employment at the Taikoo Dockyard in Hong Kong and on foreign ships, where he joined the Seamen's Union.

In 1925, Deng Fa participated in the renowned Canton–Hong Kong Strike, serving as captain of the patrol team and deputy leader of the propaganda team under the Strike Committee, and joined the Chinese Communist Party. In July 1926, the National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition.

 Deng Fa (1906–1946), originally named Deng Yuanzhao, was a native of Yuncheng District and a staunch communist fighter, proletarian revolutionary, and renowned leader of the Chinese labor movement. Born on March 7, 1906, into a poor family in Tanzhiting Village, Yuncheng Subdistrict, Yuncheng District, Deng Fa took part in anti-imperialist and anti-warlord demonstrations in his hometown of Yunfu in 1919. Starting in 1920, he worked as a handyman in Guangzhou and Hong Kong before joining the Hong Kong Seamen's Union and the Overseas Workers' Union. He participated in the 1922 Hong Kong Seamen's Strike. In 1925, he took part in the Canton–Hong Kong Strike, serving as a squad leader in both the strike patrol team and the propaganda team, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in October of that year. From November to December 1926, he served as an alternate member of the Standing Committee of the Southern Office of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. Beginning in 1926, he was appointed captain of the Youth Work Team for the Northern Expedition under the Kuomintang Guangdong Provincial Committee. After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, following the anti-communist coup on April 15 in Guangzhou, he became the secretary of the Oil Workers’ Union branch of the CCP Guangdong Committee. He took part in the Guangzhou Uprising and served as captain of the Fourth United Column of the Guangzhou Workers’ Red Guards and deputy commander of the Fifth District. After the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising, he returned to his hometown in Yunfu. In the spring of 1928, he went to Hong Kong, where he served as secretary of the Taikoo Dockyard branch of the CCP, later becoming the head of the Organization Department of the CCP Hong Kong Municipal Committee and chairman of the Hong Kong Labor Congress, where he oversaw the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Branch. From autumn 1928 onward, he served as a member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee and as the southern representative of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. He later held positions such as secretary of the CCP Hong Kong Municipal Committee, secretary of the CCP Guangzhou Municipal Committee, and standing committee member of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee. In September 1930, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the CCP, and in November, he became secretary of the Min-Yue-Gan Border Region Special Committee, as well as commander and political commissar of the Military Commission and Red Army Command of the Min-Yue-Gan region. In 1931, he served as a member of the Central Bureau of the Chinese Soviet Area and as an executive member of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic, as well as head of the State Political Security Bureau. In January 1934, he was elected as an alternate member of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth CCP Central Committee. He later joined the Long March with the Central Red Army and supported the affirmation of Mao Zedong’s leadership within the CCP Central Committee and the Red Army during the Zunyi Conference. During the Long March, he served as deputy commander and deputy political commissar of the Second Field Column of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission, commander and political commissar of the First Echelon of the Second Field Column, and political commissar of the Third Column of the Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment. After arriving in northern Shaanxi, he became head of the Food Department of the Northwest Office of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic. In December 1936, he arrived in Moscow, Soviet Union, where he served as the CCP Central Committee’s representative to the Communist International. In September 1937, he returned to Xinjiang, where he served as the CCP Central Committee’s representative in Xinjiang and director of the Eighth Route Army Xinjiang Office. On December 13, 1937, he was appointed as a member of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee at a meeting of the CCP Politburo (holding the position until the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth CCP Central Committee in April 1945). After returning to Yan’an in the summer of 1945, he successively served as president of the CCP Central Party School, secretary of the CCP Central Committee’s Labor Movement Committee, and secretary of the CCP Central Committee’s Mass Work Committee. In September 1945, as head of the Preparatory Committee of the Chinese Liberated Areas Trade Union Federation, he attended the World Trade Union Congress held in Paris, France. At the conference, he delivered a speech proposing the famous Eight-Point Program for the postwar Chinese labor movement, which received enthusiastic support from delegates of various countries. On April 8, 1946, he died in a plane crash on his way from Chongqing back to Yan’an, in Heichashan, Xing County, Shanxi Province.

The former residence of Martyr Deng Fa is a Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit, a classic red tourism destination, and a patriotic education base.