Xingguo Soviet Cadres' Good Conduct Memorial Hall

　　The Xingguo Soviet Cadres' Good Conduct Memorial Hall is located in Xingguo County. This exhibition hall was invested with over 10 million yuan, covers an area of 1,300 square meters, and is divided into six exhibition rooms. It showcases the good conduct of the Soviet cadres in those days and the spirit of today’s Xingguo cadres and masses through photos, physical objects, sculptures, models, scenes, multimedia film synthesis, and other forms.

　　“Men who don’t have wives should quickly ‘get’ one, women who don’t have husbands should quickly ‘get’ one…” In one corner of the memorial hall, such a passage is written. During his investigation in Xingguo, Mao Zedong talked about marriage freedom and once said this to the local people.

　　What does this “get” mean? An elderly man over 80 from the area explained that “get a wife” is one of the most “earthy” dialects in Xingguo, similar in meaning to “find a wife,” and now many young people in Xingguo no longer use this term.

　　It turns out that Mao Zedong liked to communicate with the masses using the local dialect wherever he went to conduct investigations.

　　Walking up to a group of wax figures: Mao Zedong is sitting on a stone by the roadside, chatting warmly with farmers. It was this kind of in-depth research among the masses that allowed Mao Zedong to grasp the real situation of China’s rural areas. In “Xingguo Investigation,” Chairman Mao stated that landlords and rich peasants, who made up 6% of the population, owned 80% of the land, while 80% of the poor and lower-middle peasants only owned 20% of the land.

　　“Politics is land policy. If the land policy is ‘right,’ then politics is ‘right,’ and it will win the hearts of the people.” This is a realization by Teacher Zhong, a native intellectual in “Xingguo, Xingguo!” before he was killed. This investigation made Mao Zedong acutely aware that only by carrying out a land revolution could the sufferings of the peasants be resolved and the support and endorsement of the working masses be won.

　　Subsequently, the Red Army launched large-scale activities of “overthrowing the landlords and distributing land.” The vast number of poor peasants who received land realized that the Red Army was fighting for the interests of the working masses, and they flocked to the Red Army. With the support of the broad masses of peasants, the Red Army rapidly grew in strength, and the revolutionary cause flourished.

　　In May 1930, in “Oppose Book Worship,” Mao Zedong first put forward the famous assertion that “no investigation, no right to speak.” Not long after, on April 2, 1931, in the “Notice of the General Political Department on Investigating Population and Land Conditions,” he added: “To make an incorrect investigation is also to have no right to speak.” And correct investigation relies on in-depth engagement with the masses. From then on, conducting investigations among the masses became a good style consistently upheld by the Soviet cadres and became a key to our Party’s close ties with the masses and victory over the enemy.

　　Small wooden bridges can be seen everywhere in the mountainous areas of southern Jiangxi. A photo of a small wooden bridge is also displayed in the memorial hall. Mao Zedong called this bridge the “Zhangshu Pond Small Bridge,” but the local people prefer to call it the “People-Loving Bridge.”

　　In November 1933, Mao Zedong went to Changgang Township in Xingguo to conduct an investigation. When passing by Zhangshu Pond, he saw that the bridge across a small stream had a broken tether, swaying dangerously as people walked on it. He immediately asked for someone to repair it and said to the township cadres: “Practical issues like bridge repair and road building are things our Soviet government cadres must always pay attention to and genuinely resolve.” Several months later, the Changgang Township Soviet Government received a letter from Mao Zedong written from Ruijin, which specifically asked: “Has the small bridge at Zhangshu Pond been repaired?”

　　At that time, as the Chairman of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, even such a small matter as bridge and road repair was deeply on Mao Zedong’s mind. If the Chairman cared so much, the Soviet cadres were even more committed to “being considerate of the people and solving their practical difficulties.”

　　The memorial hall excerpts Mao Zedong’s then-written “Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work,” which specially outlines how to care for the people—from major issues like land distribution and house building, bridge and road construction, to minor ones like daily necessities and even marriage problems—covering every detail. The masses were moved to say: “The Party is truly good, thinking of everything for us.”

　　Time flies, and history continues.

　　During the visit, I happened to hear such a story. Not long ago, Fan Yufeng, a villager from Shangwu Group, Tangshi Village, Changgang Township, fell ill and was hospitalized. Xie Xinzhang, a village cadre, took the initiative to go to her home, brought her medical insurance reimbursement documents to the township, handled the whole process for her, and soon the 7,230-yuan reimbursement was approved.

　　Always keeping the care for the people and governance for the people in mind—this is surely the foundation of the enduring success of our Party’s cause.

　　In the memorial hall, there is a rather inconspicuous photo. Had it not looked familiar, the reporter would not have noticed it. The photo shows an earthen house named “Ye Shi Ju” (Also a Residence). When it was first built in Xingguo, this house standing in the bustling downtown area stood out starkly, clashing with the surrounding buildings. Unexpectedly, it can be seen again in the memorial hall.

　　The owner of the house was Hu Can, the first County Party Secretary of Xingguo. During the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign, when the enemy attacked Xingguo, they set his home on fire. Upon returning, he simply built a crude earthen house. At the time, some advised him to take a better house, but he said: “We Communists are here to liberate the working masses, not ourselves. This place is also a home.” Thus, he named it “Also a Residence.”

　　After Hu Can’s sacrifice, his wife Zhao Ciru continued to live here. After the liberation, the local government wanted to give her a new house, but she said: “I’ll live in whatever house my husband left me.” To this day, although Hu Can’s descendants have achieved great success, this house has been preserved as a family heirloom.

　　This reminds me of another secretary from Xingguo, Liu Qiyao. His position was even higher—he was then the Chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government. But he refused to accept public funds for meals and led by example by bringing rice from his own home to eat at the provincial Soviet office. His wife even joked: “Husband, husband, I have to provide the food.”

　　In early 1935, Liu Qiyao lost contact with the organization while leading guerrilla warfare. Although dressed in rags and living by begging, no one knew that he was hiding a large bundle of gold and silver intended as party activity funds around his waist. It wasn’t until the later establishment of the Provisional Provincial Committee of the CPC in Jiangxi that he took out the gold and silver he had kept hidden for three years, earning him the nickname “the beggar with thousands in his waistband.”

　　Why could our Party unite the masses? The answer is not hard to find from these two secretaries. Although the cadres of those days held power in various aspects, they always shared hardships and relied on the masses in times of difficulty, “sharing salt when there is salt, sharing plainness when there is none,” without any special privileges. In contrast, the White Army was “the front under pressure, the rear indulging in feasting.”

　　The formation of the good conduct of the Soviet cadres did not come from nowhere. At Lianjiang Academy in Xingguo, Mao Zedong first held the “Land Revolution Cadres Training Class” here. The then Soviet leaders ate, lived, and endured hardships together with the Soviet cadres. At that time, all levels of the Soviet Party organizations had supervisory committees, all levels of government had workers’ and peasants’ inspection departments and workers’ and peasants’ complaint bureaus, and “workers’ and peasants’ complaint boxes” were everywhere. The Soviet cadres consciously accepted supervision from the masses.

　　It was under the cohesion of the Soviet cadres that the people of Xingguo worked hard and fully supported the revolutionary war, becoming exemplary in ten areas including expanding the Red Army and supporting the front lines. In May 1933, at a meeting in the Central Soviet Area, - highly praised “China and foreign countries are not as good as Xingguo.” Mao Zedong praised Xingguo for “creating first-class work,” calling for “creating thousands of Changgang Townships and dozens of Xingguo Counties,” and inscribed the four characters “Model Xingguo.” Since then, “Model Xingguo” has become widely known and celebrated to this day.

　　At the end of the visit, looking back, in-depth engagement with the masses, caring for the masses, and uniting the masses—all these words boil down to a simple truth: “Long live the people.”