Site of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River

Site of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River

The Site of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River is a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a classic red tourism scenic area.

Site of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River (Cangxi County)

Red Army Ferry — The Battle Site of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River. Originally named Tashanwan Ferry, the Red Army Ferry was the starting point of the Long March for the Red Fourth Front Army. Located about 3 kilometers east of the county town in Tashanwan, National Highway 212 runs right over the ferry. Mount Tazi is densely forested and rugged on the front side, offering a commanding height, while the back side is gently sloped with lush foliage. The ferry is situated at the mouth of the valley between the two mountains — surrounded by dense forests, with a flat beachhead, narrow river surface, slow water flow, and open terrain across the river, making it ideal for pre-battle concealment and river crossing. On March 28, 1935, in order to swiftly implement the Party Central Committee’s strategic directive of “crossing the river westward,” Commander-in-Chief Xu Xiangqian, Deputy Commander Wang Shusheng of the Red Fourth Front Army, and Commander Wang Weizhou of the 33rd Red Army personally went to the frontline to survey enemy positions, seek suitable crossing points, and selected this site as the main crossing point for the forceful Jialing River crossing.

After liberation, to commemorate the Red Army’s successful river crossing, the site was named “Red Army Ferry” and commemorated with an inscribed stone. On July 7, 1980, the Sichuan Provincial Government designated “Red Army Ferry” as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit. In October 1984, Marshal Xu Xiangqian inscribed the three characters “Red Army Ferry.” In 1987, a 9-meter-high, 13.1-meter-long group cold-cast copper sculpture of the Red Army’s river crossing was erected here. A 2,000-square-meter cultural relics protection zone was established, including the construction of a hexagonal glazed-tile antique-style pavilion, an arched bridge, and a platform, as well as the restoration of the stone chambers where the Red Army vanguard units concealed themselves during the crossing. Flowers and trees were extensively planted to the southeast of the sculpture. Today, the Red Army Ferry has become a memorial site for the Red Fourth Front Army’s forceful Jialing River crossing battle, a national patriotic education base, a provincial cultural relics protection unit, and one of China’s 100 classic red tourism scenic areas. The revolutionary relics displayed in the memorial hall are numerous, with 962 items collected so far, including 792 items of collection-grade relics (670 third-grade cloth coins, 60 second-grade cloth coins, 20 third-grade knives, 19 third-grade red-tasseled spears, and 23 third-grade grenades); 1,015 stone-carved slogans, with 256 showcasing comprehensive content; and 55 Red Army-era commemorative artifacts (23 briefcases, 21 cloth bags, and 11 boat models), the most notable being the “Red Army Seal” (now housed in the Museum of the Chinese Revolution) and the “Money Clothes” (a national first-grade relic).

The Tan Family Courtyard, another key site within the Red Army Ferry heritage area, served as the General Headquarters for the Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River Campaign. Located at the foot of the back hill of Mount Tashi in Cangxi, the Tan Family Courtyard was an important military command post for the Red Fourth Front Army’s great victory in the river crossing campaign. Zhang Guotao, along with Commander Xu Xiangqian, Deputy Commander Wang Shusheng, 30th Red Army Commander Yu Tianyun, Political Commissar Li Xiannian, and Deputy Army Commander Cheng Shicai, directly commanded the forceful Jialing River crossing campaign from here.

The Cangxi Red Army Ferry heritage site has now been developed into the Red Army Ferry Scenic Area, consisting of three parts: the Red Army Ferry Red Culture Tourism Zone, the Wudang Mountain Ecological Park Tourism Zone, and the Jialing River Duli Dam Water Recreation Zone, covering a total area of over 3,000 acres. The overall layout of the scenic area is designed as “one line, two loops, three zones, and four gardens.” “One line” refers to the golden Jialing River tourism route; “two loops” refer to the inner loop within the scenic area and the outer loop connecting nearby attractions; “three zones” refer to the Red Army Culture Tourism Zone, the Wudang Park Tourism Zone, and the Jialing River Duli Dam Water Recreation Zone; “four gardens” refer to four themed parks: the Red Army Ferry Memorial Park, Wudang Park, the Chinese Hundred Family Surnames Tracking Park, and the Love Calligraphy Stele Forest Park. With planning insights from experts at Chengdu University of Technology, the scenic area aims to establish the brand of the starting point of the Red Fourth Front Army’s Long March, centering on the theme of the Forceful Crossing of the Jialing River Campaign, and highlighting the characteristics of “red land, green landscapes, and pear orchard sentiment,” thus shaping the tourism image of “Red Army Ferry on the Jialing River, ecological gardens with pear orchard charm.” Fully leveraging its proximity to the hometown of Zhu De and its location near the ancient city of Langzhong, the area actively integrates into the broader red tourism landscape of eastern Sichuan’s “hometowns of great leaders” and the “Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area,” as well as the Three Kingdoms culture of northern Sichuan and the natural scenery of the Jialing River basin, collectively forming a multi-layered, multifunctional, and distinctive regional tourism network.

Protected Area: Centered around the “Red Army Ferry Site” marker, extending 5 meters eastward to National Highway 212 and 15 meters westward to the middle of the Jialing River; starting from the old “Red Army Ferry Monument,” extending 57 meters southward and 57 meters northward.

Construction Control Zone: Centered around the “Monument to the Stone Slogans of the Red Army in the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Area,” extending 75 meters eastward to the foot of Chongxia Baota Mountain, 12 meters westward to National Highway 212, 50 meters southward, and 140 meters northward to the Cangxi Oil Depot.