Former Residence of He Chang

Former Residence of He Chang

The Former Residence of He Chang is a cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province and a classic site of red tourism.

Former Residence of He Chang (Fifth Batch of Provincial-level Protected Sites)

Era: 1906–1920

Address: Hechang Village, Liulin Town, Liulin County, Lüliang City

Comrade He Chang was born in Dongyao on January 19, 1906. In 1918, he was admitted to the Senior Primary School of Lishi County, and in 1920, he moved to Taiyuan with his father and was enrolled in the First Provincial Middle School of Shanxi Province. In the spring of 1923, he left Taiyuan to work for the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. He successively led youth and labor movements in Taiyuan, Anyuan, Beiping, Tianjin, Shanghai, and other locations, and participated in the planning and leadership of the Nanchang Uprising on August 1 and the Guangzhou Uprising. In 1927, he served as an executive member and Minister of Labor of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. In 1929, he became the Propaganda Minister of the Central Southern Bureau, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, and, together with Deng Xiaoping, organized and planned the Baise Uprising in Guangxi as well as the establishment of the Red Seventh Army and the revolutionary base areas of the Left and Right River regions. In 1930, he was appointed Secretary of the Northern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and concurrently served as Secretary of the Shuntian Provincial Committee. In 1932, he became the Deputy Director and Acting Director of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission, as well as the Director of the Political Department of the First Front Army of the Red Army. He died a heroic death in 1935 during combat against Nationalist forces in Huichang, Jiangxi.

The Former Residence of He Chang faces south and is situated along a north-south axis. It is 24 meters long from east to west and 28.4 meters wide from north to south. It features an architectural style from the Qing Dynasty. The original layout of the site is unclear. Currently, there are three brick-arched main rooms and three brick-arched east rooms. The east rooms are built with blue strip bricks, featuring a two-curve, two-arch vaulted facade, topped with a cross-pattern retaining wall. On the southeast side is the main gate, also constructed with blue strip bricks, fitted with a pair of panel doors. Above the gate is a wooden plaque inscribed with the characters “Gengdu Chu Jia” (Farming and Scholarship Passed Down Through Generations).

He Chang was an outstanding proletarian revolutionary in the early days of the Chinese Communist Party, the youngest Central Committee member in the history of the Party, a pioneer of the early youth and labor movements in Shanxi Province, a senior party worker in the early CPC, as well as a high-ranking commander and political worker in the Red Army.

Source: Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau

Hechang Village: Hechang Village... More detailed information about Hechang Village++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Provincial-level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Shanxi Province