Former Site of the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District Hospital

　　The Former Site of the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District Hospital. In the first half of 1931, the rear hospital of the 35th Red Army (reorganized as the 3rd Independent Division in October) was established in Furongzhai, Yunmenling, Huichang County. Due to the unstable situation in Yunmenling at the time, in July 1932, the hospital was relocated to Banshan Temple on Mount Huichang. After the establishment of the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District in April 1933, it was renamed the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District Hospital.

　　The hospital had departments for internal medicine, surgery, and an operating room, capable of treating wounded and sick soldiers except those requiring major surgery. The equipment was rudimentary, and there was a shortage of medicine, especially Western medicine. Herbal medicine was mostly used instead—for instance, to treat malaria ("shaking chills") and dysentery, which were common at the time, herbs such as plantain, bracken, and sheep’s tear grass were boiled for medicinal use. Western medicines available included morphine, red medicine (mercury balm), iodine tincture, carbolic acid, potassium permanganate, boric acid powder, and vaseline (often substituted with lard). Gauze and cotton were mostly replaced by sterilized white cloth and cotton from quilts.

　　After the hospital was established, leaders such as Mao Zedong and the people of Huichang showed great care and strong support for the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District Hospital. During his time in Huichang, Mao Zedong gave the eggs sent to him for nourishment to wounded Red Army soldiers. Xi — the secretary of the Huichang Central County Party Committee — often visited the wounded in the hospital. Li Jingquan, the political commissar of the 3rd Independent Division, frequently inspected and guided the hospital’s work, and political commissar Song Shilun once received treatment there. The county and district women's departments regularly organized the public to bring large amounts of supplies to comfort the wounded, and helped by washing clothes, feeding patients, and giving sponge baths. Cured patients and their families spontaneously came to the hospital to express their gratitude. The county labor union and the propaganda department of the Young Communist League County Committee also often performed for the patients in the mountains. Medical staff and wounded soldiers were greatly inspired.

　　In 1934, during the intense phase of the Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Central Soviet Area, Banshan Temple was filled with wounded and sick soldiers, while others were accommodated in Liuzu Temple, Xu Family Ancestral Hall in the county seat, and other places. Medical personnel made daily rounds among these locations to treat the wounded. From its establishment until it joined the Long March with the Central Red Army, the Guangdong-Ganzhou Military District Hospital diligently treated soldiers and local civilians, earning high praise from both troops and residents. In just over three years, it cured thousands of patients and made indelible contributions to consolidating and defending the Central Soviet Area.