Banyan Trees and Thatched Cottages

Banyan Trees and Thatched Cottages

As visitors walk from the tour bus to the former sites of the Southern Bureau and the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office, they follow a gentle slope, pass through the arched gateway of the “Dayou Farm,” and then encounter a large banyan tree standing prominently at the three-way intersection ahead. This banyan tree, thick enough to be embraced by two people, is lush and leafy, with a canopy like a grand pavilion. Especially during Chongqing’s scorching summer months, when the sun beats down relentlessly, visitors on their way to see the site often take a break under this banyan tree to cool off and rest.

The path leading to the Southern Bureau and the Eighth Route Army Office splits right in front of this banyan tree. The branch to the right leads uphill to the office building, while the one to the left goes downhill to the building of the National Political Council, which was established by the Kuomintang during the war. In those eight grueling years of wartime Chongqing—when the city felt as if it were under a heavy, unrelenting fog—this banyan tree became a vital landmark for outsiders seeking out Hongyan.

During the war, it was common for leaders of local party organizations affiliated with the Southern Bureau to come to Hongyan to report and seek instructions, and many people from all walks of life also visited the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office at Hongyan. In the early days after the office relocated to Hongyan, progressive theater artist Chen Bore and her troupe mistakenly went to the National Political Council building instead. Fortunately, Rao Guomu, the owner of “Dayou Farm,” was there to guide them back in time. To prevent such mix-ups in the future, Rao arranged for an elderly farm worker named Aunt Huang to set up a cigarette and tea stand under the banyan tree. Whenever someone asked for directions to the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office, she would point them uphill. From then on, no more visitors mistakenly ended up at the council building. In the spring of 1946, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Wang Ruofei, and dozens of comrades from the Southern Bureau, the Office, and the Xinhua Daily gathered under this very tree, leaving behind a precious historical moment captured on film. This tree has witnessed the history of struggle at Hongyan. Over half a century of trials and tribulations have passed, yet it still stands deeply rooted and lush, its leaves rustling gently in the breeze as if whispering to visitors all that it has seen.

Just past the banyan tree, on the right side of the path, stands a roughly 40-square-meter thatched cottage. Originally, this cottage served as lodging for workers on Rao Guomu’s Dayou Farm. On May 3 and 4, 1939, Japanese aircraft carried out devastating air raids on Chongqing, turning the urban area into an inferno. Both the urban offices of the Southern Bureau and the Chongqing Office were bombed and destroyed. With no other choice, Dong Biwu, a leader of the Southern Bureau, along with his wife He Linzhi and others, came to Hongyan to take shelter from the air raids. Rao Guomu arranged for the Dong family to stay in this thatched cottage until the completion of the office building. Later, the Southern Bureau also used the cottage to hold several party member training sessions. Leaders of the Southern Bureau, including Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Bo Gu, and Kai Feng, all gave lectures and situation reports to the trainees inside this cottage. In those days, the small open space in front of the cottage even served as a makeshift “basketball court” where members of the Bureau and Office played sports.

This thatched cottage was reconstructed in 1993 based on its original design.

Source: Chongqing Hongyan Cultural Development Management Center