Banyan Trees and Thatched Cottages

　　    As visitors head on foot from the tour bus to the Hongyan Revolutionary Memorial and the former sites of the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office, they walk along a gentle slope, passing through the arched gate of the “Dayou Farm,” where they are greeted by a tall banyan tree standing at the fork in the road ahead. This banyan tree, thick enough to be encircled by two people, is lush and leafy, forming a broad canopy. In the hot summer months of Chongqing, when the sun blazes overhead, visitors often take a break in the shade of this banyan tree to cool off.

　　    The path leading to the former site of the Southern Bureau and the Eighth Route Army Office splits in two just in front of this banyan tree—the right path leads uphill to the office building, while the left path goes downhill to the building of the National Political Council, which was established by the Kuomintang during the War of Resistance. During those eight years of wartime in Chongqing, a city shrouded in heavy fog and pressure, this banyan tree became an important landmark for outsiders seeking out Hongyan.

　　    During the War of Resistance, it was common for leaders of local party organizations affiliated with the Southern Bureau to come to Hongyan to report and seek instructions, and many people from all walks of society also visited the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office at Hongyan. In the early days after the office moved to Hongyan, progressive dramatist Chen Bohou and her group once mistakenly went to the National Political Council building instead. Fortunately, Rao Guomu, the owner of “Dayou Farm,” promptly brought them back. To prevent such wrong turns, Rao specially arranged for an elderly farm woman named Huang to set up a cigarette and tea stall under this banyan tree. Whenever someone asked for directions to the Eighth Route Army Chongqing Office, she would point uphill. From then on, no one else mistakenly went to the council building. In the spring of 1946, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Wang Ruofei, and dozens of comrades from the Southern Bureau, the Office, and the Xinhua Daily left a precious historical photo under this great tree. This tree has witnessed the history of the struggles at Hongyan. More than half a century has passed, yet it still stands deeply rooted and lush, its leaves rustling gently in the breeze as if telling visitors all that it has seen.

　　    Past the banyan tree, on the right side of the path, there is a roughly 40-square-meter thatched cottage. This cottage was originally used as lodging for workers of Rao Guomu’s “Dayou Farm.” On May 3 and 4, 1939, when Japanese aircraft rampaged through Chongqing, setting the urban area ablaze, both the urban offices of the Southern Bureau and the Office were bombed. With no other choice, Dong Biwu, a leader of the Southern Bureau, along with his wife He Linzhi and others, came to Hongyan to take shelter from the air raids. Rao Guomu arranged for the Dong family to stay in this thatched cottage until the office building was completed. Later, the Southern Bureau also used this cottage to hold several party member training sessions. Leaders of the Southern Bureau such as Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Bo Gu, and Kai Feng all gave classes and situation reports to the trainees here in this cottage. In those days, the small flat area in front of the cottage even served as a makeshift “basketball court” for sports activities among comrades of the Southern Bureau and the Office.

　　    This thatched cottage was rebuilt in 1993 based on its original structure.

　　    Source: Chongqing Hongyan Cultural Development Management Center