Former Site of the Meeting of the Front Committee of the Seventh Red Army

Former Site of the Meeting of the Front Committee of the Seventh Red Army

The former site of the meeting of the Front Committee of the Seventh Red Army is a cultural relic protection unit of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, a classic red tourism attraction, and a base for patriotic education.

The former site of the meeting of the Front Committee of the Seventh Red Army is located within the Guan Yue Temple (also known as Ma Huang Temple) on Zhongxin Road in the center of Quanzhou County. It faces south and covers an area of 306 square meters. Built in the third year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1798 AD) by local residents to honor the Three Kingdoms general Guan Yu and the Southern Song national hero Yue Fei, it derives its name from them. Today, only the main hall remains, constructed with brick, wood, and tiles. It is a through-dovetail, double-eave, hip-and-gable roof building, measuring 18 meters long, 17 meters wide, and 11 meters high, with a three-bay front facade and a post-and-lintel structure. The building holds significant historical and artistic value.

On January 2, 1931, over 4,000 soldiers of the Seventh Red Army, led by Commander-in-Chief Li Mingrui, Army Commander Zhang Yunyi, and Political Commissar Deng Bin (Deng Xiaoping), entered Quanzhou County and rested and regrouped there for three days. The Front Committee held a meeting inside the Guan Yue Temple, where it was decided to abandon the risky plan to attack Guilin, correct the influence of Li Lisan’s “Left” deviationist line, reorganize the army into three regiments, and advance toward northern Guangdong, seeking an opportunity to join forces with the Red Army in Jiangxi. It was also agreed that Deng Bachiqi, representative of the Central Southern Bureau, and Chen Haoren, head of the political department of the Seventh Red Army, would go to Shanghai to report to the Central Committee. The army was placed under the full command of Deng Xiaoping, Secretary of the Front Committee and Political Commissar of the Army.

This meeting marked a pivotal turning point in the history of the Seventh Red Army. Thereafter, the army endured a grueling campaign across Hunan, Guangdong, and Jiangxi for over half a year before arriving at the Central Revolutionary Base Area, where it was incorporated into the Third Red Army Corps and became part of the Central Red Army. In 1999, Mo Wendao, a 90-year-old veteran of the Seventh Red Army and then a lieutenant general, inscribed the words “Turning the Tide” in commemoration of this meeting.

The former site of the meeting of the Front Committee of the Seventh Red Army was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit of Quanzhou County in 1989, and as a key cultural relic protection unit of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1994. A memorial museum for the meeting site was also established. In 1997, it was designated as a patriotic education base in the Guilin region.