On December 12, 1936, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng launched a "military advisory" in Xi'an, detained Chiang Kai-shek, and sent a telegram to the whole country, putting forward the idea of "stopping the civil war and unanimously resisting Japan." This was the "Xi'an Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries.
The news of the "Xi'an Incident" reached Chengcheng County, and under the leadership of the Chengcheng County CPC Committee, a patriotic mass parade from all walks of life that responded to and supported the "Xi'an Incident" broke out. Subsequently, an armed response was launched. Jia Tuofu, then secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial CPC Committee, spoke highly of this, saying that "the scale of the Chengcheng armed response to the 'Xi'an Incident' ranked first in all counties in the province."
A monument to the heroes in the ruins of the cliffside village. The picture comes from the Party History Office of the Chengcheng County Party Committee.
Cliffside cottage armed response
Zhang Ding'an, the leader of the Chengcheng armed response, was then a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Cpc Committee, the director and secretary general of the Propaganda Department, and the secretary general of the Chengcheng County PARTY Committee. His brother Zhang Shao'an, an enlightened gentleman of Chengcheng, was deeply influenced by the Communist Party. Before the "Xi'an Incident" broke out, Zhang Shaoan had just been appointed by the Kuomintang provincial government as the captain of the Chengcheng County Security Brigade.
After the "Xi'an Incident", Zhang Ding'an instigated Zhang Shao'an and other patriots to respond with arms. On December 21, the Chengcheng County People's Congress was solemnly held in the county seat, and more than 5,000 members of the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress and more than 5,000 people from most townships in the north and south of the county participated in the meeting.
In his speech at the congress, Zhang Shao'an called on the people of Chengcheng to resolutely support Zhang and Yang Tongdian, support the eight-point proposal, oppose the civil war, unanimously resist Japan, recover the lost land in northeast China, and drive Japanese imperialism out of China. The congress announced that representatives from all walks of life would set up the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Federation and the Anti-Japanese National Salvation League from all walks of life in Chengcheng County. After the meeting, a huge demonstration was held.
All circles in Chengcheng expressed solidarity with the righteous deeds of the "Xi'an Incident," which alarmed the reactionary forces. At that time, Feng Qinzai, commander of the 42nd Division of Yang Hucheng's garrison in Dali County, rebelled against Yang Andi jiang in an attempt to encircle and annihilate this revolutionary force.
The situation was urgent, Zhang Ding'an and Zhang Shao'an and others discussed and decided to launch an armed uprising on the evening of December 21, leading two squadrons of the county security brigade and more than 300 people from the anti-Japanese national salvation regiment to evacuate the county seat and drive to the cliffside village.
Before the uprising, Zhang Shaoan had already sent Pan Shutang, the squadron leader of the security brigade and a communist party member, to occupy the cliffside village as a temporary foothold for the team.
On the 22nd, after the rebel troops entered the cliffside village, Zhang Ding'an and Zhang Shao'an sent people to northern Shaanxi and Xi'an respectively to contact Yang Hucheng, requesting support and further instructions, and preparing to cross the Yellow River in the east to resist Japan.
Panorama of the cliffside village. The image comes from the Internet
Cliffside village vista. Filmed by Zhai Junxia of Weinan Radio and Television Station in October 2021.
Located in Shaojia Village, Zhaozhuang Town, Chengcheng County, 25 kilometers away from Chengcheng County, the cliffside village is more than 200 meters wide from east to west and more than 300 meters long from north to south, and it is a village built by local people in the late Qing Dynasty to avoid bandits. There are three ditches here, and only one dirt road runs through the ditch to the north gate. There are high walls around the village, and the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. At that time, there were more than 300 households in the village, and there were more grain and material deposits, which was convenient for the temporary stationing of troops.
The rebel troops reorganized their training in the village and prepared to meet the enemy. At the same time, wait for instructions from Yan'an and Xi'an.
On December 27, members of the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Sacrifice Regiment in the village moved to nearby Liu Jiawa to continue anti-Japanese propaganda and expand the armed forces.
Just as Zhai Nei was sending people to northern Shaanxi and Xi'an to make contact, the Brigade of Liu Zijun of the Kuomintang Forty-second Division, Feng Qinzai, marched into chengcheng county. The reactionary landlord leaders in the Zhao Zhuang area heard the wind and colluded with them to bribe the traitors in the rebel ranks as an internal response to prepare to attack the cliffside village.
On December 30, 1936, Wang Baokun and other local tycoons and local reactionary forces launched an attack on the revolutionary armed forces stationed in the cliffside village. Because the enemy bought and committed adultery and attacked inside and outside, the rebel troops were attacked by the enemy on their backs and were outnumbered.
In the breakout battle, the enemy proposed negotiations to make Zhang Ding'an, Zhang Shao'an and others surrender their weapons, but the Zhang brothers regarded death as a homecoming and fought until the last moment.
In the cliffside village incident, the three brothers Zhang Shao'an, Zhang De'an, and Zhang Ding'an, the communists Yuan Zihou, Pan Shutang, and Liu Zhongdi, and 11 other people who participated in the uprising, including Zhang Ziqiang, Zhang Cuibao, Zhang Xiangping, Li Zhenjiang, and Yang Xingyun, died heroically, and many people in the uprising were injured. Due to the bloody suppression of the reactionary forces, the armed uprising failed, and the white terror spread over Chengcheng.
Zhang Ding'an (left), Zhang Shao'an (center) and Zhang De'an. The image comes from the exhibition room of the Chengcheng County Martyrs' Cemetery.
Although the Chengcheng armed response was brutally suppressed by the collusion of internal traitors and reactionary forces, it contained the strength of a division of the Kuomintang and supported the "Xi'an Incident", which is unique in the country.
After the Cliffside Village incident, dozens of progressive young people, including Zhang Kunsheng, Zhang Qingxiu, Liu Zhenzhong, Jia Wuxiang, Wu Jianchu, Yang Zhaochun, Zhang Yinwu, Lei Mingxiao, Zhang Baozhen, Liu Zhihan, Li Yucai, and Zhang Junyan (daughter of Zhang Shao'an), left Chengcheng County one after another, joined the Red Army, or entered the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to continue fighting. The mass movement to resist Japan and save the dead in Chengcheng County turned to a low tide for a while. In May 1938, the Chengcheng County Committee of the Communist Party of China was established at the Ji'an Tea Fang School in Fengyuan Town, and the Party organization in Chengcheng County was restored, and the people continued to lead the struggle for the victory of the revolution.
Jatov inscription. Image source: Provided by the Party History Office of the Chengcheng County Party Committee, the original picture was published in the book "Biography of Zhang Shao'an".
After the peaceful settlement of the "Xi'an Incident," the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated again to form an anti-Japanese national united front. In September 1937, the Eighth Route Army marched to the anti-Japanese front in Shanxi. Passing through Chengcheng, the local government held a mass welcome meeting in the county seat. In their speeches at the meeting, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and Comrade Ren Bishi mentioned the "Cliffside Village Incident": We must no longer dwell on the past and should unite to resist Japan in unison. Since then, the white terror of Chengcheng has gradually converged, and the situation of unity and resistance against Japan has developed newly.
On November 27, 1948, the Chinese People's Liberation Army liberated the whole territory of Chengcheng.
In 1951, after a court trial, Wang Baokun, who took the lead in suppressing the uprising in the cliffside village, was executed.
In July 1951, after trial, the chief criminal of the counter-revolution who created the bloody case of the cliffside village was ambushed. The image comes from the books in the collection of the Chengcheng County Archives.
In April 2005, the Chengcheng County Committee of the Communist Party of China designated the site of the "Cliffside Village Incident" as a county-level patriotic education base.
Zhang Ding'an: Running a night school for farmers and promoting "teaching and doing one"
In February 1933, the Chengcheng (Central) County Committee of the Communist Party of China, the party's leading organ in Chengcheng District, was formally established, and Zhang Ding'an was the first secretary of the county party committee.
Zhang Ding'an (1903–1936), also known as Zhang Xinfa, was a native of Liangzhou Village, Liujiawa, Chengcheng County (now part of Wangzhuang Town). In 1922, Zhang Ding'an graduated from the first high school in the county and was admitted to the Xi'an Provincial No. 2 Middle School. In 1923, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League and later became a member of the Communist Party of China. During his schooling, Zhang Ding'an, together with Wang Chaobei, a member of the Communist Party of China and a person from Chengcheng County, successively organized students to set up the "Wu Support Association" and the "Wu Support Association" to expel Wu Xintian, the overseer of Shaanxi, and set off a climax in the student movement.
After graduating from Xi'an No. 2 Middle School, Zhang Ding'an successively served as the secretary of the Chang'an County CPC Committee, the director of the Propaganda Department of the Hancheng Central County Cpc Committee, the member of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and the director of the Propaganda Department.
The photo is from the Chengcheng County Government website.
In 1931, Zhang Ding'an became the principal of Wangzhuang Primary School in Chengcheng County. After the "918" incident, he established the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress in Wangzhuang, founded the Wangzhuang Peasant Night School, trained and developed party members, and established the Wangzhuang branch of the CPC to lead the masses in the anti-tax struggle and reduce taxes.
From 1934 to 1935, Zhang Ding'an taught at Liangzhou Village and Liu Jiawa Primary School. He systematically read Marxist works such as Capital and wrote On the Italian-Arab War. Together with Communist Party members Liu Zhongdi and Zhang Jingmao, he founded the Liujiawa Peasant Literacy Class, which propagated the idea of resisting Japan and saving the country by learning new languages. The peasant literacy class influenced a large number of villages and developed into the surrounding townships of Wangzhuang, Fengyuan, Zhaozhuang, and Weizhuang. These educational activities enlightened the peasants' thinking, sowed the seeds of revolution, and expanded the influence of the Party.
In 1927, Tao Xingzhi, a famous educator in China, founded Xiaozhuang Normal, and in 1932, he founded the Life Education Society and the Shanghai Shanhai Engineering Troupe, which implemented the educational concept and teaching method of "unity of knowledge and action" in these clubs and schools.
In order to learn the new educational ideology and change the backward situation of chengcheng education, in early October 1935, Zhang Ding'an raised 380 yuan for the road, and Sun Ciqing and Liu Zhongdi, principals of Wangzhuang Primary School, went to Shanghai to visit and learn the experience of the Shanhai Engineering Group on behalf of Wang Zhuang and Liu Jiawa respectively. Sun Ciqing and Liu Zhongdi visited the engineering group 5 times and interviewed Mr. Tao Xingzhi twice.
In March 1936, Sun Ciqing and Liu Zhongdi returned to their hometowns. After listening to the report of the study tour, Zhang Ding'an for the first time in Chengcheng clearly proposed to implement the reform of "teaching and doing one".
He organized students in schools to sweep the floor and plant vegetables and beautify the campus; educated students to love labor and love the working people; called on teachers, students, and peasants to make friends and absorb the children of poor peasants to enroll in school; and promoted the small gentleman system of "knowing is passed on to others". Raised by the Chengcheng Party organization, an industrial school was established in Shenglin Temple in Renzhuo Village, and a chicken farm was set up to allow teachers and students to continue to practice in teaching.
These initiatives promoted by Zhang Ding'an had a positive impact on the teaching at that time. He popularized cultural knowledge among the peasants and also promoted the spread of the idea of resisting Japan and saving the dead.
Zhang Ding'an wrote such a couplet before his death: "The national vendetta has not repaid the heroes and the old, and the sword in the box has a sound at night." This is not only the voice of his concern for the country and the people, but also a portrayal of his revolutionary struggle spirit of persisting in fighting and fighting with great ambition.
Zhang Shao'an angrily rebuked the briber
Zhang Shao'an (1893--1936), formerly known as Xintang, was the brother of Zhang Ding'an.
In 1916, Zhang Shao'an was admitted to Xi'an Sanqin Public School. In 1919, he took a leave of absence to return to the county and taught at the First High School of Chengcheng County, where he served as a school supervisor. After the Outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, he supported the students in forming the "Chengcheng County Student Federation" and held demonstrations to force the county government to remove Yang Shedou, the principal who suppressed the student movement, from his post.
In 1924, Zhang Shao'an was appointed as the head of the militia regiment in the northeast district of Chengcheng County. At that time, the Chengcheng soldiers and bandits colluded, and the vigilante groups did not dare to encircle and suppress. Regardless of his life, he chased after the bandits and beat them fiercely, capturing and shooting the bandits. Later, because Wang Zhuang garrison Yan Xishan (the same name as the Shanxi Overseer) colluded with bandits, he took the opportunity to provoke, angrily left his post, and went to serve in the army led by Geng Zhuang, a native of Chengcheng, Chaoyi County.
Zhang Shao'an (right, taken in his 30s) and his wife Yang Xifeng (photographed at the age of 90). The image comes from the books in the collection of the Chengcheng County Archives.
In the summer of 1927, Zhang Shaoan participated in the training class for primary and secondary school teachers. Many of the teachers in the training course were members of the Communist Party, which had a profound influence on him. After that, he asked Wang Chaobei, a member of the Chinese Communist Party, to join the Communist Party. After asking the organization, Wang Chaobei believed that his role in staying outside the party was even greater, so he did not absorb him into the party.
In 1929, Zhang Shao'an was appointed head of the county defense regiment. One day, Dong Mou, a wealthy merchant in the county town, took advantage of the fact that there was no one in the early morning, and threatened a Yulin blanket to defend the regiment and bribed him. Zhang Shaoan was furious and kicked the fleece blanket away, drinking and making Dong "roll quickly". Zhao Qiaowu, the chief of the finance section, was corrupt and evil, and met him in the street, and he ordered someone to beat Zhao badly in public.
Zhang Shao'an once exposed the fake county government to enrich himself by borrowing the money of the meeting. At the Yihe Temple Fair, the pseudo-county government banned gambling, while the staff secretly gambled. After Zhang Shaoan knew, he took people straight into the casino, and the gamblers saw the situation and fled everywhere. After that, the pseudo-county government did not dare to gamble anymore. The masses said: "With Zhang Shao'an here, officials do not dare to be greedy, and officials do not dare to defile."
After Zhang Shao'an died in the cliffside village, his daughter Zhang Junyan longed for revolution and joined the Red Army. Later, Zhang Junyan was injured to death by her husband and was posthumously recognized as a martyr.
Zhang De'an: The "logistics housekeeper" of the Zhang family who went to the disaster of righteousness
Zhang De'an and his wife took a group photo. On the left is Zhang De'an's wife, Liu Shuiying. The image comes from the Chengcheng County Archives Collection.
Zhang De'an, born in 1894. Because he has been working as a farmer at home, there are few records of him in the Chengcheng County Chronicle and the History of the Party. His elder brother Zhang Shao'an and younger brother Zhang Ding'an made a revolution, and while he was engaged in family farming, he became the "logistics minister" of his brother and brother.
In December 1936, after the rebel troops arrived at the cliffside village, Zhang De'an sent the rebel army grain to the family and took care of the old and young women and children of the Zhang family who came with them. In the breakout battle, he was shot and killed in a cliffside village.
The image comes from the Chengcheng County Government website.
The three Zhang brothers are now buried in a cemetery in the east of Liangzhou Village, Wangzhuang Town, Chengcheng County. Although the heroes have passed away, they have defended their homeland, resisted oppression, stood up for national independence and national liberation, and the spirit of sacrificing their lives for righteousness has endured.
(Weinan Radio and Television Station Zhai Junxia Weinan City Archives Ren Jing )
(Editor's note: In 2021, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Weinan Municipal Archives and Weinan Radio and Television Station jointly planned and produced "The Story of the Weinan Red Archives", which is one of the reports.) Thanks to the Party History Research Office of the Weinan Municipal CPC Committee and the Party History Research Office of the CHENGCHENG County CPC Committee for their checks and examinations of the reports. This article refers to the relevant books compiled by Bai Zhongmin, the former information officer of the Chengcheng County CPC Committee Foreign Propaganda Office, and expresses my deep gratitude. ）