The Nanyaojie Revolutionary Base

　　Nanyaojie is situated in the southern part of Youyang County, adjacent to Yuanhe County, Songtao County, and Yinjiang County in Guizhou Province, as well as Xiushan County in Chongqing. Nestled among picturesque and serene mountain ranges, it served as the Sichuan-Guizhou-Hunan-Hubei Revolutionary Base established by Comrade He Long, leader of the Third Red Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. This land bore witness to the sowing of the fiery seeds of China’s revolution, the footprints of the Red Army’s life and battles, and the blood shed by revolutionary martyrs — it is a piece of hallowed red soil.

　　On June 10, 1934, He Long set up the headquarters of the Third Red Army at the Yujiatongzi Courtyard in Nanyaoshi. On October 27, the Sixth Red Army Corps of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, led by Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, and others, arrived in the Sichuan-Guizhou border area after a long campaign and successfully joined forces with the Third Red Army, bringing together over 8,000 troops. From then on, the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps used this base to wage campaigns across the Sichuan-Guizhou border region. Their presence caught the enemy off guard and shocked them into deploying heavy forces to besiege the area. This move significantly alleviated the pressure on the Central Red Army, which was facing intense encirclement and pursuit, and strongly supported and coordinated the strategic movements and Long March of the Red Army.

　　Stepping into Nanyaojie is like traveling back to the heroic days when Red Army leaders mobilized local villagers to overthrow landlords and distribute land. You can almost see the scenes of galloping war horses and the fierce fighting amidst flying bullets. Entering the Yujiatongzi Courtyard, you may hear the thunderous laughter of Commander He, witness the joyous embraces and cheers of soldiers from the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps celebrating their victorious reunion, and feel the deeply moving and solemn scene of villagers bidding a tearful farewell to the Red Army as they marched off — an image known as “The Ten Farewells to the Red Army.”

　　In 1986, to commemorate the revolutionary holy land of Nanyaojie and honor the martyrs, the People’s Government of Youyang County allocated funds to restore the site of the former headquarters of the Third Red Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army and the Monument to the Meeting of the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps. General Liao Hansheng, then Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and a comrade who had helped establish the Nanyaojie Revolutionary Base with Commander He, inscribed the name of the Nanyaojie Memorial Hall as “Former Site of the Headquarters of the Third Red Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.” General Xiao Ke also inscribed a plaque for the Meeting Monument.

　　Today, Nanyaojie is the only old revolutionary base in Chongqing. Dozens of Red Army battle relics and martyr cemeteries remain well preserved within the area. These include the site of the meeting of the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, the August 1st Military-Civilian Assembly Site, and the site of the former Political Department of the Red Army at Dabachang Ancestral Hall. There are also 56 cultural heritage sites, such as the Red Army University, the Red Army Hospital, and the Ten Major Political Platforms. During Qingming Festival, locals and young students from the Chongqing-Guizhou border region spontaneously visit the former headquarters site to pay tribute to the revolutionary martyrs, receive education on revolutionary traditions, and silently read the still-clear and powerful slogans left by the Red Army — “Capture Ran Ruiting Alive, in Memory of the Workers and Peasants Who Sacrificed for the Revolution!”