Former Site of the State Political Security Bureau of the Chinese Soviet Republic

　　The main functions of the State Political Security Bureau were to conduct investigations and suppress political and economic counter-revolutionary activities. Its internal departments included: the Investigation Department, whose head was initially the Bureau’s director Deng Fa, later succeeded by Zhang Ranhe, Qian Zhaofeng, and Wang Jinxiang; the Execution Department, headed first by Li Kenong, then succeeded by Li Yiman; the Political Security Brigade, commanded by Wu Lie and commissar Hai Jingzhou; and the Secretariat (later renamed the General Affairs Office), headed by Ouyang Yi. In 1932, the Red Army Work Department was added under director Li Kenong, and the White Area Work Department under director Zhang Guojian. With the establishment of the State Political Security Bureau, various provinces and counties in the Soviet areas also set up their own bureaus, while district-level political security commissioners were appointed. Corresponding political security bodies were also created within the Red Army. These security organs at all levels operated under a vertical leadership structure, with local governments having no authority to alter the decisions or orders of the Political Security Bureau.

　　Deng Fa, the head of the State Political Security Bureau, was a legendary figure who was referred to by American journalist Edgar Snow as “the leader of the Chinese Red Army’s secret service.” He was born on March 7, 1906, in Wushitang, Yunfu County, Guangdong Province. Early in his career, he was involved in the Chinese labor movement and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1925. During the First Revolutionary Civil War, he served as the head of the Northern Expedition Youth Work Team under the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Kuomintang. During the Second Revolutionary Civil War, he held positions such as Secretary of the Hong Kong Municipal Committee of the CCP, Head of the Organization Department of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, and Secretary of the Fujian-Guangdong-Jiangxi Border Provincial Committee and Chairman of its Military Commission. In July 1931, he entered the Central Soviet Area. In November, he was appointed Director of the State Political Security Bureau and Secretary of the Central Labor Committee. In September 1945, he represented the working class of the liberated areas of China at the World Trade Union Congress in Paris. Upon returning to China in 1946, he died in a plane crash over Heicha Mountain on April 8, while en route from Chongqing to Yan’an. He was 40 years old. The State Political Security Bureau made indelible contributions during the Second Revolutionary Civil War by safeguarding the Soviet regime, protecting the interests of the people, consolidating the workers' and peasants' democratic government, and suppressing counter-revolutionaries.

　　In April 1933, the State Political Security Bureau moved from Yeping to Shazhouba along with the temporary central government offices, residing in Tongluotang. In July 1934, it relocated to Aiyuanling under the Yunshishan Mountain, and in October 1934, it embarked on the Long March with the central authorities and the main forces of the First Front Red Army.

　　This former site was restored with state funding in the autumn of 1999 and opened to the public. It is now a national revolutionary education base for police officers.