Zhishan Red House

　　    Zhishan Red House, also known as the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Leading the Red Army to Capture Zhangzhou, is located at No. 118 Shengli West Road at the southern foot of Zhishan in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. The building was originally the headmaster’s residence of Xunyuan Middle School, founded by an American church. On April 20, 1932, after the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Eastern Route Army captured Zhangzhou, Comrade Mao Zedong lived here. The structure is a three-story brick-and-stone building, covering an area of about 700 square meters, with a floor space of 480 square meters, including 400 square meters of exhibition rooms. The building faces south and sits on a north-south axis. The ground floor is a basement, with walls built from strip stones. The second and third floors are of brick-and-wood construction, with red-brick walls—hence the name “Red House.” Compact and elegant, it catches the eye. Inside, there are seven rooms, with the southwest side of the second floor featuring a front porch with a Romanesque arched ceiling, and the third floor having a cool open terrace. The layout is fairly rational, showing distinct Western architectural influence. In front of the house is a square, and behind it lies a garden courtyard. The entire site is enclosed by walls, with revolutionary slogans and mottos written by the Red Army during their capture of Zhangzhou preserved on the front and eastern walls.

　　    The memorial hall boasts a rich collection of nearly 1,000 cultural relics. These include extensive historical materials on revolutionary activities in southern Fujian, photographs of the Red Army’s capture of Zhangzhou, Red Army trophies and propaganda materials, weapons and armbands used by guerrilla fighters, as well as items that Mao Zedong used in his daily work and life. The hall is divided into four exhibition rooms, highlighting the theme of the Zhangzhou Campaign. Among them, the “Mao Zedong’s Workroom” has been arranged exactly as it was at the time, based on recollections and instructions from veterans who once lived in the same building, such as Deng Zihui, Zeng Zhi, Luo Ming, and Mao’s guard Guan Jieqing.

　　    In November 1956, Zhangzhou City converted the “Zhishan Red House,” where Mao Zedong had lived, into the “Southern Fujian Revolutionary Memorial Hall,” which opened to the public in 1957. In 1962, it was renamed the “Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao’s Residence,” and in 1967, it became the “Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Leading the Red Army to Capture Zhangzhou.”

　　    Zhishan Red House has been designated as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and serves as a Fujian Provincial Youth Revolutionary Tradition Education Base.