Former Site of the Guangdong Peasants' Association

Former Site of the Guangdong Peasants' Association

The former site of the Guangdong Peasants' Association is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, a classic red tourism destination, and a patriotic education base.

The former site of the Guangdong Peasants' Association is located at No. 1 Donggao Avenue (now No. 6 Lixing Street, Donggao Avenue). In this spacious and quiet courtyard stands an orderly and attractive beige building, which was originally a garden villa belonging to Chen Gongshou, the vice commander of the Guangzhou Merchants’ Volunteer Corps. During the period of the Great Revolution, it served as the headquarters of the Guangdong Peasants’ Association (abbreviated as the "Provincial Peasants’ Association")—the command center for the 800,000 peasants’ association members in Guangdong.

In October 1924, after the revolutionary government led by Sun Yat-sen suppressed the Merchants’ Volunteer Corps rebellion, this building was confiscated. In 1925, the Peasant Movement Training Institute (abbreviated as the "Peasant Institute") moved here from the Huizhou Guild Hall at Yuexiu South Road (now No. 89 Yuexiu South Road), continuing its third to fifth sessions. From its establishment until the “April 15” counter-revolutionary coup by the Kuomintang in 1927, the Provincial Peasants’ Association used this place as its base camp and led peasants across the province in earth-shaking endeavors.

On May 1, 1925, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the First Provincial Peasants’ Congress of Guangdong was grandly held in Guangzhou, establishing the Guangdong Peasants’ Association, issuing the "Declaration of the Guangdong Peasants’ Association," electing the Executive Committee of the Guangdong Peasants’ Association, formulating the association’s charter, and unifying the name and flag of the peasants’ associations.

The Guangdong Peasants’ Association set up a General Affairs Bureau (later changed to the Standing Committee) as its permanent body, with five departments under it: Secretariat, Propaganda, Organization, Economy, and Military. The standing committee included Ruan Xiaoxian, Peng Pai, Luo Qiyuan, Zhou Qijian, and Cai Ruping. The office of the Guangdong Peasants’ Association was located on the second floor. In those years, Ruan Xiaoxian, Peng Pai, Zhou Qijian, and others often worked here, guiding the development of peasant movements across the region.

In October 1925, while teaching at the Fifth Peasant Institute, Mao Zedong had his office and residence in a small room on the eastern side of the second floor. According to recollections of former students, the furnishings were very simple—just an ordinary desk, a few chairs, and a wooden bed. Mao Zedong gave lectures on the theory of the peasant movement at the Fifth Peasant Institute.

In early 1926, the Guangdong District Committee of the CPC held a Party members’ training class here to cultivate revolutionary backbone members. On the eve of the Northern Expedition, to improve the ideological awareness of CPC members and activists within the Whampoa Military Academy and the National Revolutionary Army, the Guangdong District Committee held weekly lectures in the auditorium, featuring reports on the political situation and issues related to military and peasant movements by Chen Yannian, Zhou Enlai, Yun Daiying, Zhang Tailei, and Peng Pai. Soviet advisors such as Borodin and Galen also came here to give lectures to students of the Peasant Institute.

In August 1926, the Expanded Meeting of the Second Executive Committee of the Provincial Peasants’ Association was held here. Qu Qiubai represented the Central Committee of the CPC at the meeting. This meeting played an important role in further advancing the peasant movement across the province and supporting the Northern Expedition.

On April 15, 1927, the new Kuomintang warlords carried out bloody suppression against Communists and revolutionary masses in Guangzhou and other places. Both the Provincial Peasants’ Association and local peasant associations suffered severe damage, leading to the cessation of activities by most of them.

The former site is a villa with a two-story front building and a three-story rear building, connected as one unit and interlinked, built with brick and wood structure, surrounding a small central courtyard. In those days, there were two wooden guard booths in front of the gate, manned by armed students from the Peasant Institute. A plaque bearing the words “Guangdong Peasants’ Association” hung prominently in front of the building. The first-floor hall of the front building displayed portraits of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The hall was equipped with a podium and rows of long benches, serving as both a meeting hall that could accommodate two to three hundred people and a large classroom for the Peasant Institute. The east and west sides of the hall and the third floor housed the students’ dormitories. The first floor of the rear building was the dining hall. The second floors of the front and rear buildings were interconnected and entirely dedicated to meeting rooms and offices.

Currently, the former site of the Guangdong Peasants’ Association remains largely unchanged except for modifications to the staircase of the front building. In December 1979, it was designated as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the People’s Government of Guangdong Province. In 2019, it was approved and announced by the State Council as part of the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

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Further Reading:

·Second Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

·Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units