Yangjialing Revolution Headquarters

After an epic Long March the pitiful remainder of a once strong, though hounded, Red Army arrived to set up base in a little town called Yan'an. The leadership clique at that time, including such revolutionary martyrs as the all powerful Mao Zedong, the wise patriarch Zhou Enlai and the military strategist Zhu De, arrived weary to start again from where they had left off in the Jiangxi Soviet. The base area was first commanded from the Yangjialing Revolution Headquarters (Yangjialing geming jiuzhi), about 3km north from the town, although the HQ was moved about a number of times between October 1938-March 1947 by the wary troops. This first site, however, is of particular note for the holding of both the first Central Committee (CC) meetings and the seventh National Plenum that was to officially instate Mao as the Chairman of the revolutionary struggle.

Like much of the town, the headquarters nowadays remains very much undisturbed by the tourist hordes that used to pour through here on communist pilgrimage. Of interest are the Meeting Hall where the CC met, and more particularly, the mound behind that contains the Former Dwelling Holes of the leading military cadres. These 'rooms' can still be seen, where Mao and the rest were to sleep, write and plot. They are elegant enough affairs with white plaster over straw, mud or brick walls, and wooden lattice entrances faced with paper, typical of the traditional local architecture. Further up the hill are also a series of caves where the communist offices were located (including the secretariat and the propaganda departments.