Amir&Jeff’s Excellent China Adventure Series. 2025: Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Shaanxi Provinces’ Red Tour. Short videos with transcripts, captioned photos, articles and commentary. The REAL Chinese people you don’t know!

https://radiosinoland.com/2025/07/27/amirjeffs-excellent-china-adventure-series-2025-hunan-jiangxi-fujian-and-shaanxi-provinces-red-tour-short-videos-captioned-photos-articles-and-commentary-the-real-chinese-people-you-don/

 

Introduction

Compared to the massive, eyepopping Jinggangshan Revolution Museum (https://radiosinoland.com/2025/08/24/amirjeffs-excellent-china-adventure-26-jiangxi-province-jinggangshan-tour-its-revolution-museum-in-60-english-language-slides-learn-the-chineses-history-from-their-point-of-view/), their Martyrs’ Memorial is an understated affair. The written panels are written out in text below and then tour the memorial in a slide show.

Visiting museums and memorials in China is a window into the people’s souls: how they think of their past, present and future, as well as the outside world.

 

Photos by Amir

 

#1: Xingguo is not only a county of Red Army in the Soviet period, a Model County and a General County, but also the county that has the largest revolutionary martyrs in China. Under the leadership of elder proletarian revolutionaries Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai etc, the Xingguo people have waged arduous struggles for the cause of liberating the new China. During the Soviet, not only have they made great achievements in building the Party and the construction of the political power, economy and cadres’ working style, but also they have made great contribution and enormous sacrifices to the revolution by joining the Red Army and taking part in the revolutionary war, which was thought highly of by Chairman Mao Zedong as “Xingguo people have done first-rate work” and wrote in person the famous 4 Chinese characters Mo Fan Xing Guo, which means Model Xingguo. Moreover, the former Premier Zhou Enlai praised Xingguo highly by saying “No place is as good as Xingguo at home and abroad.

Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve. There were only 230,000 people in Xingguo County during Soviet Period, but more than 80% of the young men, namely 90,000, joined the Red Army, but unfortunately, only 23,179 names were remembered in the history, among whom 12,038 martyrs lost their lives on the Long March of 25,000 Li, leaving a magnificent chapter in the glorious history of the Chinese Revolution. Both their revolutionary spirits of fearing no sacrifice and taking the bull by the horns and the heroic and loyal nature will coexist with the world and shine like the sun and moon.

We built this museum in memory of the great achievements of the revolutionary martyrs to express our deep feelings and inherit the revolutionary tradition.

“Martyrs’ great contributions will be immortal, and we swear to fulfill their last wishes.”

 

#2: Martyr Jiang Shanzhong Jumps Off a Cliff

#2: in the winter of 1934, Jiang Shanzhong, a judge in the Jiangxi Soviet government, led guerrillas in the Changgang Mountain area of ​​Xingguo County, protecting the wounded and sick Red Army soldiers. Facing an enemy raid on the mountain, he led them to the summit of Mangchui Rock, a cliff on three sides, to shield his comrades. After writing a blood oath on his shirt, “I will never betray the Communist Party, even to death, and will protect the Communist Party forever,” he bravely jumped off the cliff and died.

The Chinese lost 36,400,000 people during history’s longest civil war (1924-1949), with hundreds of thousands of named martyrs. Mao Zedong’s second wife, Yang Kaihui was a revolutionary martyr with a similiar story (https://radiosinoland.com/2025/08/23/amirjeffs-excellent-china-adventure-25-jiangxi-province-jinggangshan-2-5-million-yr-see-the-revolution-museum-and-its-a-long-way-from-anywhere-must-read-commentary-to-understand-the-chinese/ and https://fatherofcommunism.weebly.com/maos-marriages-and-children.html).

 

#3: Xingguo was the first place to spread Marxism-Leninism in Jiangxi Province. Martyr Chen Fa-xiang with the revolutionary pioneers Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi, etc, went to Europe in 1920 to explore the revolutionary truth. Martyr Yuan Yu-bing returned hometown to spread the Marxism-Leninism and set up the organizations of the Party after joining the Communist Party of China in Peking University in 1922, introduced by Li Da-zhao. In 1925, Martyr Qiu Hui-pei built up the organizations of the Party in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. It was Martyr Yan Ri-xin who created the organizations of the Party in Ruijin and Fuzhou. In 1926, Martyr Hu Can, who joined the Communist Party of China in Huangpu Military Academy in 1925, established the organizations of the Party at his hometown on September 17, lighting the fire of revolution in Xingguo.

Get over it. The Chinese people are proudly communist-socialist, Marxist-Leninist.

 

 

#4:

Big red letters: 九万工农齐参战 誓死保卫苏维埃 (1931—1934. 10)

英文翻译 (English Translation):

Ninety Thousand Workers and Peasants Join the Battle Together Vow to Defend the Soviet to the Death (1931—October 1934)

In order to consolidate and protect the Red political power, Xingguo people joined the Red Army and took part in the revolutionary war enthusiastically. They fought in the Counter-Campaign against “Encirclement and Suppression” and gave everything to China’s revolutionary war. Chairmen Mao granted Xingguo personally an honorable title “Model Xingguo” for its first-rate work. Xingguo women, brave and strong, have done good work industriously and got an excellent reputation of “Xingguo women are best in Soviet Area”.

Note: There is a minor grammatical oversight in the text (“Chairmen Mao” should be “Chairman Mao”). The rest of the content appears as presented in the original display.

 

#5: 

Big red letters: 血染长征万里路 不屈英豪铁骨情 (1934.10—1937.7)

英文翻译 (English Translation):

Blood-stained Long March, Ten Thousand Miles Unyielding Heroes, Iron Will and Noble Spirit (October 1934 – July 1937)

On the long March, Xingguo martyrs feared no sacrifice, took vigorous lead in advancing and capturing the cities, winning great reputation that “Xingguo men are too strong to be conquered”. During the bitter southern guerrilla warfare, Xingguo martyrs held the red flag high, fought to the last and shed their last drop of blood in defence of the Party and the soviet power. In the enemy’s dark prison, their toughness and their loyalty proved themselves to be indeed the proletarian vanguard.

 

 

Chinese revolutionaries were sticklers for recording all the details of battles, movements, etc. We saw this throughout our journey. The main justification is to identify the best, brightest and bravest for future promotion.

#6: Photo of Wang Zhikai after his martyrdom

Breakout of the 9 Routes from the Central Military Region

From February to May 1935, after the main force of the Red Army embarked on the Long March, the 24th Division of the Red Army and the Independent 3rd, 7th, and 11th Regiments under the direct command of the Central Military Region remained behind in the Soviet Area to continue their struggle. Under attack by 200,000 Nationalist troops, nearly ten thousand soldiers were encircled in a narrow area around Shangping Village in southern Ruijin. After consulting with the central leadership, the Central Sub-Bureau decided to leave part of its forces to hold their ground locally, while the main force would break out along nine separate routes to conduct guerrilla warfare beyond the enemy’s lines.

The breakout was organized as follows:
– **Route 1**: Led by Li Cailian, Secretary of the CCP Central Sub-Bureau, commanding the Independent 7th Regiment, it crossed the blockade line from Huichang, passed through the Changting-Ruicheng (Jin) border region, and proceeded to the Fujian-Jiangxi Soviet Area for guerrilla warfare.
– **Route 2**: Led by Chen Tanqiu and Tan Zhenlin, members of the Central Sub-Bureau, commanding four battalions of the 24th Division, it moved to western Fujian to join Zhang Dingcheng’s forces and continued guerrilla warfare there.
– **Route 3**: Led by Wang Jinxiang, head of the Security Bureau of the Central Sub-Bureau, commanding four battalions of the 24th Division, it advanced southward to Xunwu, as well as the areas of Jiuling, Anyuan, and Wuping, to conduct guerrilla warfare.
– **Route 4**: Led by Li Tianzhu, former commander of the 8th Army of the Hunan-Jiangxi Red Army, commanding four battalions of the 24th Division, it advanced into the southern Xunwu guerrilla zone and extended operations toward eastern Guangdong.
– **Route 5**: Comprising two battalions of the 24th Division, it pushed into the Sanan region (Longnan, Dingnan, and Xunwu) to establish a guerrilla base there.
– **Route 6**: Led by Gong Chu, Chief of Staff of the Central Military Region, commanding the 71st Regiment of the 24th Division, it crossed the Nan’an River, passed through the You Mountain region at the Jiangxi-Guangdong border, and established guerrilla bases in southern Hunan.
– **Route 7**: Led by Xu Hong, commander of the Independent 3rd Regiment, and Political Commissar Zhang Kai, it led the entire regiment across the Xinfeng River to the Jiangxi-Fujian border to conduct guerrilla warfare.
– **Route 8**: Led by Yin Juxian, Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee and Political Commissar of the Jiangnan Military Region, Cai Huiwen, Commander of the Jiangnan Military Region, and Liu Bojian, Director of the Political Department, commanding the Jiangnan Military Region headquarters and the Independent 6th Regiment, it remained in Jiangnan to continue guerrilla warfare.
– **Route 9**: Led by Xiang Ying, Secretary of the Central Sub-Bureau, Commander and Political Commissar of the Central Military Region; Chen Yi, member of the Central Sub-Bureau and Director of the Central Government Office; and He Chang, member of the Central Sub-Bureau and Director of the Political Department of the Central Military Region, commanding the 70th Regiment of the 24th Division, it conducted mobile guerrilla warfare across Jiangnan and western Fujian, directing struggles throughout the various regions.

 

#7: On the anti-Japanese battlefield, Xingguo people shared bitter hatred against the enemy and resisted foreign aggression hand in hand. In the liberation war, they fought north and south on many fronts for the cause of liberation of the Chinese people. In the self-defensive counter-attack in Vietnam, they were the strong and brave guards of the People’s Republic of China. In the cause of peace construction, they served the people heart and soul, assumed the power for the people and loved the people as their own children.

 

Slide show

The red banner sign out front is a quote from Mao Zedong,

Chinese Text:
革命烈士永垂不朽

English Translation:
Revolutionary Martyrs Are Immortal

or, in a more common and solemn memorial phrasing:

Eternal Glory to the Revolutionary Martyrs

Explanation:
This is a standard and deeply respectful epitaph found at memorials and cemeteries for revolutionaries across China. “永垂不朽” is a classical phrase meaning “to live forever in memory” or “to be immortal,” expressing the idea that the martyrs’ spirit and contributions will never be forgotten.

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