Preface
Shanghai, a metropolis steeped in red culture, is also our spiritual wealth.
The red culture is very close to us, and many of the roads around us are the carriers, which carry the vicissitudes of the past century and are embedded in the fabric of our city.
Let us start from Xingye Road, measure the red years with our footsteps, and continue the red blood.
Zichang Road, located in the northeast of Putuo District, Shanghai, was built in 1956 and widened from 1984 to 1985. From Yanchang West Road in the south to Xincun Road in the north, it is named after Zichang County in Shaanxi Province, and the county seat is named in honor of this hero Xie Zichang.
In the Zichang Revolutionary Martyrs' Memorial Hall, there are only a few lines about his life: "Xie Zichang, born on January 19, 1897, joined the Communist Party of China in 1925. He led the Qingjian Uprising in October 1927 and the Weihua Uprising in May 1928. He successively served as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Anti-Japanese and Anti-Imperialist Allied Army, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Shaanxi-Gansu Guerrilla Force, the military commissioner of the Central Committee's Northern Representatives in the Northwest, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Shaanxi Guerrilla Army, the political commissar of the Forty-second Division of the Red Twenty-sixth Army, and the chairman of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission. He was wounded at the Battle of Qingjian Estuary on 26 August 1934 and died on 21 February 1935 as his wounds worsened. These words say that Xie Zichang's life has been more than 30 years, but they can't express his great mind of seeking happiness for the people all his life.
When Xie Zichang was studying in Xi'an, he began to link the fate of the individual with the fate of the country and the nation, and thought about how to serve the country and seek benefits for the people. In 1918, Xie Zichang, who was studying at Xi'an Provincial No. 1 Middle School, returned home during the winter vacation and listened to his father and brother say that Zhang Shangwu, the county magistrate of Anding County, was corrupt and perverted the law, oppressed the people, and did nothing wrong, and came to Anding County the next day, walked the streets and alleys, and deeply understood Zhang Shangwu's crimes. During the visit, he learned that the county magistrate Zhang Shangwu appointed his brother as the grain and grass official of the county government, distributing grain and grass to the people, with low-priced income, high-priced expenditure, and personal enrichment. The common people could not afford to pay the grain, so they were arbitrarily imprisoned in the county jail... Such corrupt and perverted laws abound. Listening to this accusation of blood and tears, Xie Zichang spent several days verifying and sorting out these corrupt and perverted laws and oppressing the people, and went to Yulin Province to accuse the county magistrate Zhang Shangwu. In the cold winter moon, the paper handed over did not respond, and several times in a row broke into the prefect's gate without results. In desperation, Xie Zichang found Mr. Du Bincheng, the principal of Yulin Middle School, and with the help of Shebin Cheng, Yulin Daotai finally accepted the case. Through Xie Zi Changyi's righteous words and the crimes of Zhang Shangwu, Daotai had to remove Zhang Shangwu from his post. The matter of the student Xie Zichang's complaint against the county magistrate was a good story for a while. Xie Zichang said: Studying cultural knowledge is nothing more than to serve the motherland. On the contrary, if we only know how to bury our heads in reading, do not know how to care about major national affairs, and do not know how to care about the well-being of the people, then what is the use of learning more knowledge?
In the spring of 1924, Xie Zichang set up a militia group in his hometown of Anding County. He acted impartially, using the legal organization of the vigilante group to specifically punish local tycoons and inferior gentry, crack down on local evil forces, and advocate justice for the people, winning the praise of the masses, and the title of "Xie Qingtian" in northern Shaanxi spread among the common people. In this regard, Xie Zichang embarked on the revolutionary road of seeking happiness for the people.
One day in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar in 1934, Xie Zichang was injured and rested in a fellow villager's house on the way to the transfer, and the family surnamed Xue enthusiastically boiled water for Xie Zichang and his party to drink. Xie Zichang looked around and found that there was nothing on the kang of his hometown, several dolls were frozen into a straight shiver, and when he left, he left his quilt for them to use in the winter. The fellow said emotionally: "You are so badly injured, how can we ask for this quilt?" Xie Zichang's guard also said: "Just such a quilt was given to the fellow villagers, what do you cover?" "I just have this big leather jacket."
After the villagers learned the news of Xie Zichang's injury, they came to visit him with meat, eggs, walnuts, and dried dates, but Xie Zichang refused. "The poor family's things are not easy to come by, and I can't ask for them!" Bai Shengying, the niece and daughter-in-law who took care of Xie Zichang's injuries, said, "Three big! Whoever looks at you is not an outsider. Since it has been taken, it is more or less a piece of the hearts of the villagers! I think you might as well eat it, heal your wounds as soon as possible, take the Red Army to destroy the White Army, divide the land and grain among the people, and repay the care of the villagers for you. Hearing this, Xie Zichang said sternly: "Destroying the White Army, dividing up the land and dividing the grain is what our revolutionaries should do." You can't do these things, you have to eat the things of the villagers in vain. ”
In February 1935, Xie Zichang's injuries worsened, and when he realized that his injuries had no hope of getting better, he painfully said to his family: "I died like this, I am sorry for the people, I have done too little for them!" "Xie Zichang loved the people all his life, always thought of the people, and really sought the interests of the people. He spent his life interpreting the unchanging heart of a Communist Party member for the people, and was also sincerely supported by the broad masses of the people. "All his life he created a red land for the people, and the people now call him Qingtian." This painting is exactly the portrayal of Xie Zi's long and glorious life.
In February 1946, the "Border District Mass Newspaper" reported on the public sacrifice of Xie Zichang
Reporter / Song Qing
Edited / Gao Lei
Source/ Shanghai Collectors Association