Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Park

Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Park

The Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Park is a cultural tourism attraction and a classic red tourism site.

After the Zunyi Conference, in order to break free from the encirclement and pursuit by the Kuomintang reactionaries, the Red Army crossed the Chishui River four times, annihilating the enemy in mobile warfare and cleverly extricating itself from the enemy’s encirclement. This shattered Chiang Kai-shek’s arrogant plan to encircle and wipe out the Red Army at the Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan border, achieving a decisive victory in the strategic transfer of the Red Army.

In 1960, when meeting with British Field Marshal and WWII hero Montgomery, Chairman Mao once said with deep feeling: “The three major campaigns—Liaoshen, Pingjin, and Huaihai—were nothing. The Four Crossings of the Chishui River was my proudest achievement.” To commemorate this significant victory, in 1995, the “Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Park” was built at the Maotai Ferry, where the Red Army crossed the Chishui River for the third time. It is one of China’s 12 key red tourism areas and is included in the nation’s 30 premium red tourism routes and 100 classic red tourism sites.

The Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Park mainly consists of a memorial tower, a relief wall, a ferry monument, and an exhibition hall. The memorial tower is built atop Zhusha Fortress at the Maotai Ferry. If you enter Maotai Town via the expressway from Renhuai, you can see it at a glance from high above. The tower is 25,000 millimeters (25 meters) tall, symbolizing the Red Army’s 25,000-li Long March. The body of the tower is formed by four overlapping wave-shaped structures, representing the remarkable feats of the Red Army’s four surprise crossings of the Chishui River. The front of the tower bears an inscription of the tower’s name by Comrade [Mao Zedong].

The Red Army's Four Crossings of the Chishui River Memorial Tower stands atop Zhusha Fortress on the west bank of the Chishui River at the Maotai Ferry in Renhuai City, Guizhou Province. The Maotai Ferry is located in Maotai Town, the hometown of China’s national liquor, and was the main crossing point used by the First Front Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army (the Central Red Army) during its third crossing of the Chishui River. The Battle of the Four Crossings of the Chishui River vividly embodies Mao Zedong’s military thinking and flexible, agile strategy and tactics. It stands as a great miracle in the history of our army’s warfare and a glorious example in world military history of winning against greater odds. To promote the spirit of the Red Army’s Long March, showcase the heroic deeds of the Red Army, and educate and enlighten future generations, the tower was constructed upon approval granted by higher authorities following an application by the Renhuai Municipal People’s Government. Construction began in May 1995 and was completed in January 1996.

Address: Changzheng Road, Renhuai City, Zunyi, Guizhou Province