OT LONG AGO I made a
N trip to Chingkangshan. A
trip did I say. Call it a pilgrim-
age. For Chingkangshan — the
“Wells-o n-t h e-Ridge” Moun-
tains on the Hunan-Kiangsi

=i -China — was

1 lonary srich in
China, the home of the Peopl
.

I

uiberation Army.

the village of Tuichienh-
the
I saw

At

siang on the edge of

Id “Red” area,

famous <

slogans painted on walls by a
Red Army propaganda team
26 years ago. They were

and some of

weather-beaten

the characters hard to deciph-

er, but I managed to make out

ike workers
peasants are our best
“Down with lo-
and corrupt offi-
e
st has become roman-
ce, folklore. The peasants like

to show you the places where
Mao Tse-tung once lived and
worked. They tell how
he used to read under a big
house in

you

tree in front of the
which he lived.
Most of the over-forties re-
member Chu-Teh, the Com-
and how

mander-in-Chief, he

once spoke to the people there

from the st of the village
theater. One of the villagers
tells how he once saw Chu
carrying a bag of rice on his
shoulder as he walked among
the soldiers. ‘“What’s your
rank” called out one of them.
“Me?” replied Chu with

“Tm the chef.

*

uerece nen n is a veritable
natural fortress. Only four
narrow paths give access to it.
Keep these four paths well
guarded, and it is impregn-

able.

In October 1927
there with a workers’ and
peasants’ revolut tionary army
ehad organized during the
“Autu Harvest Uprising” in
Hunan From this
base, strategically placed on
the mountainous Hunan-
Kiangsi border, they fought
against local despots, distrib-
uted land, expanded the. Red
Army and established a gov-
ernment of the _ workers,

sants and soldiers. With
Chiangkangshan as a.rallying
point they created the Hunan-
Kiangsi Border Region, Chi-
na’s revolutionary base

led by the Communist party.

grin.

Mao arrived

an
umn

Province.

In April 1928 they were
joined at Chingkangshan by a

detachment of troops which
had taken part in the Nan-
chang Uprising and a group

ts who had been ac-
the Hunan Uprising.
Chu.

of peasan
tive in
These were led by

1928, the first an-

Nanchang

August 1,

niversary of the

Uprising, celebrated at a
mass meeting in Talung Vil-

lage, at the foot of Chingkang-
shan. It proved to be a histor-

ec

These happy children symbolize the better life being created

Birthplace of a revolut

By HU KO

ic occasion. Mao read an order
of the Revolutionary Military
Committee announcing forma-
tion of the Fourth Army of the
Chinese Workers’ and Peas-
ants’ Red Army. Chu was ap-
pointed commander and Mao
the party representative.

This Red Army was the
“first spark in a prairie fire,”
predecessor of the People’s
Liberation Army which later
defeated the Japanese invad-
ers and wiped out the- eight
million strong counter-revolu-
tionary army of Chiang Kai-
shek.

From the day it was found-
ed the Hunan-Kiangsi Border
Area became a key objective
of enemy attacks. From April
1928 onwards the enemy used
increasingly large forces for
his offensives, varying from
8 to 18 regiments.

The Red Army boasted only
four regiments, but it not only
repelled attacks but launched
counter-offensives and spread
the influence of revolution. It
set up several more revoluti-
onary bases, and grew in num-
bers and strength. It repeated-
ly smashed Chiang’s encircle-
ment campaigns until it began
famous “Long March” in
1934 and set out north to or-
ganize national resistanée to
Japanese aggression.

*

The peasants of the various
villages were glad to take us
to see the places where Red
Army units had been station-

its

ed in those historic days. At
the villages of the Five Big
and Small Wells we heard of
one exploit in January 1929
which was little short of a
miracle.

The Kuomintang was then

launching an offensive against
Chingkangshan from four di-
rections. The column advanc-
ing from Ningkang, consisting
of eight regiments, was partic-
ularly formidable. The Red
troops guarding the approach-
es on this side numbered only
300. They armed with
locally made rifles and only
50 rounds of ammunition per
rifle.

were

At night the villagers help-
ed the Red Army repair de-
fense works damaged ain the
day’s fighting. They brought
food and water to the fighters

and gave first aid to the
wounded. The Red Army
fought there for seven. days

and nig and _ successfully
blocked the enemy’s advance.

A villager who had taken
part in an operation told us

how the Red Army had
launched an attack on the
town of Yungsin.

“Eight or nine hundred men
were detailed for this opera-
tion. Each had a piece of red
cloth pinned to his breast. But
they were poorly armed.
Many carried only sickles or
rough knives. Before we set
out we prepared fireworks
and tied the bigger ones -to
bamboo sticks or metal rods.
The younger folk rigged up
stretchers with carrying-poles
and bamboo couches.

“When everything was ready
Mao gave us a talk. He told
us to arm ourselves with weap-
ons taken from the enemy.
‘We will!’ we all shouted.

“The Red Army men march-
eed in front and we villagers

brought up the rear. The
battle began just outside
Yungsin, After defeating the

enemy there the Red Army

ed

by the people of China today.

We set
made

men entered the city.

off the fireworks and
a terrific hullabaloo. The Kuo-
mintang troops were scared
out of their wits and took to
their heels, leaving the streets
littered with arms and ammu-

nition.”

After the Red Army left
Chingkangshan the Kuomin-
tang launched a ferocious cam-
paign against the local people.
Hsiao Chia-pi, nicknamed
“Butcher Hsiao,” and Yin Hao-

men, a local tyrant, were the

ring-leaders. They had a slo-
gan which ran: “Kill all the
inhabitants, raze the houses,
strip the fields, make way for
a new race of men!” There
was fire and murder in the
villages and periodic round-
ups. The lucky ones escaped
to the mountains. \

Life in the mountains was
hard. The people _ suffered
hunger and cold. When food
ran out they ate starch pre-
pared from bracken, roots.
Often they had nothing to
live on but wild herbs and the
bark of trees.

After three or four years of
this hard life they began by
twos and threes to return to
their homes. Years of destruc-
tion had laid their villages
waste. Every. peasant. cottage
had been burned by the Kuo-
mintang thugs. They felled
trees to make supports, used
split-bamboo in: lieu of tiles,
and used what was left of for-
mer foundations to build their

houses. Bit by bit they brought
life back to their ruined

villages.

One morning in. September
1949 the people of Chingkang
shan saw a column of troops
approaching. The spick and

August 24, 1956 —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE

span uniforms,

and the strange di
it hard to recognize
the Red Army that
such desperate h@
But there could bey
panne
carried, or their J&
ings. The Red Army

taking the red

turned!

Butcher Hsiao wea

and tried by
People who had

of this brute came:
to 4
trial at Suichwan. Bi
ed ‘2,000 people an

miles around

destruction of 5

*

not from the
shan primary

Tzuping is the big
to the Revolution@
of Chingkangsha?

far

1953. Behind it are 5

of party members;
men and other Tre
killed by the Kuo

Below us stretched
village surrounded

prod

es of farmland.
the agricultural

operative were P
fields, shouting ©?
to their buffalo

with red scarfs
with a ball on thé
In my mind’s ey
future: Tractors oy
fields, high-tem
mission lines strung ,
mountain tops
roads zigzagging
to village.

A group
is rising beside the
shan primary S¢ hore
be a high sc shool
kangshan’s new
ace

new.

Standing on a ei

yoll

nce

of new

a
ull

(p

12
G

nd