Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army

Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army

The Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army is a national AAA-level tourist attraction, a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and a classic red tourism destination.

The Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army is located in Tongjiang County and Wangping Village, Shaxi, Sichuan Province. The site includes the former headquarters of the Political Department of the Red Fourth Front Army and the Martyrs' Cemetery of the Red Fourth Front Army.

In the winter of 1932, the Red Fourth Front Army moved from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Revolutionary Base into Sichuan, capturing Tongjiang, Nanjiang, and Bazhong, and establishing the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base. Afterwards, the General Headquarters and the Political Department of the Red Fourth Front Army were stationed in Tongjiang County. The former site of the General Headquarters was originally the Confucius Temple, built in the late Ming Dynasty. It features a front hall, main hall (Qisheng Hall), side rooms, and the Lingxing Gate, covering an area of about 1,000 square meters. At that time, leaders such as Xu Xiangqian and Wang Shusheng worked and lived here. The General Headquarters held military meetings here to direct the Red Fourth Front Army’s operations in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area. Today, the Former Site of the General Headquarters has been turned into a memorial exhibition hall. The former site of the Political Department is adjacent to the General Headquarters site. It was originally an academy built in the mid-Qing Dynasty, consisting of left and right courtyards and front and rear sections, all interconnected with wooden structures that remain relatively well-preserved.

The Martyrs' Cemetery of the Red Fourth Front Army is located in Wangping Village, Shaxi, Tongjiang County, over 20 kilometers from the county seat. Built in 1934, it houses the remains of more than 3,800 Red Army soldiers. The tombstone is square-shaped, standing 4.2 meters tall, with a hammer and sickle emblem at the top. The horizontal inscription at the top reads “Glory for All Eternity,” while the central inscription reads “Tomb of the Heroic Martyrs of the Red Fourth Front Army” in eleven large characters. On either side are the couplets: “Sacrificed for workers and peasants, pioneers of the revolution.” This tombstone was protected by revolutionary masses with their blood and lives after the Red Fourth Front Army withdrew from Tongjiang. (Source: National Cultural Heritage Administration)

1. Former Site of the General Headquarters of the Red Fourth Front Army

Protective boundary: Extends 1.5 meters westward to the surrounding wall, 3 meters northward to the surrounding wall, east to the surrounding wall of the former Political Department site, and 5 meters southward from the main body of the Jimen to the Red Army Square.

Construction control zone: Extends 20 meters westward beyond the surrounding wall, north to the Lenin Park surrounding wall on Beihuan Road, and south to Nuojiang Avenue.

2. Former Site of the Political Department of the Red Fourth Front Army

Protective boundary: Extends 3.5 meters westward to the surrounding wall of the General Headquarters site, 20 meters northward to the surrounding wall, and 5 meters southward from the South Hall to the Red Army Square.

Construction control zone: Extends 20 meters eastward beyond the surrounding wall, north to the Lenin Park surrounding wall on Beihuan Road, and south to Nuojiang Avenue.

3. Martyrs' Cemetery of the Red Fourth Front Army

Protective boundary: Extends east to the Martyrs' Cemetery Archway, west to the Heroes’ Wall, and south and north to the surrounding walls.

Construction control zone: Extends 100 meters beyond the protective boundary.

Further reading:

· China National Third-Class Museum

· Third Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level