From: Frontline Client
Initially, I learned about Yan'an from junior high school textbooks. He Jingzhi's poem "Back to Yan'an" brings our vision to a place full of dreams: "My heart is going to beat so hard, and the dust is blocking my eyes." I grabbed the loess in my hand and stuck it tightly to my heart socket. Several times back to Yan'an in my dreams, I put my hands around Pagoda Mountain. A thousand voices calling out to you,—— Mother Yan'an is here! ”
It wasn't until decades later that I had the opportunity to come to Yan'an. As soon as you step on this hot land, you feel very kind. Full of respect, but also spontaneously. Majestic pagoda mountain, Qingqing Yan river water. Endless stories, endless feelings. Because the red flag is rolling here, and the dawn is rising here. Yan'an is the cradle of the People's Republic of China and a place that every Chinese yearns for.
Since the Arrival of the Central Red Army's Long March in northern Shaanxi in October 1935, the land where Yan'an is located has become the command center and strategic rear of the Communist Party of China. The CPC Central Committee and Chairman Mao Zedong made a series of major policy decisions here that had a bearing on the future and destiny of the Chinese revolution, thus laying a solid foundation for the seizure of national power.
When I studied history, I firmly remembered these two numbers. At the end of the Long March of the Red Army in 1936, the total number of Red Army troops in the whole country was only 30,000. By the time of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army under the leadership of the Communist Party had reached more than 1.2 million people. From 1936 to 1945, in just 9 years, it increased 40 times. In those years, the eyes of the people of the whole country and the hopes of the people of the whole country were all turned to Yan'an. Countless patriotic young people, at the risk of being beheaded, rushed from all parts of the country to Yan'an and threw themselves into the torrent of revolution.
So I thought, what is the magic of this seemingly ordinary Yan'an?
Is it the "pagoda"? Yan'an Pagoda is located on the tushan mountain on the bank of the Yanhe River on the east side of Yan'an City, because the pagoda was built on the top of the mountain, so the mountain was named Pagoda Mountain. The Yan'an Pagoda was built in the Tang Dynasty, and the existing pagoda was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. The tower is 44 meters high, octagonal, and next to an iron bell made during the Ming Chongzhen period. After July 1, 1937, the Party Central Committee entered Yan'an, and the pagoda became a symbol of the holy land of the Yan'an Revolution.
Is it Yangjialing's "cave dwelling"? Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi and Zhu De all worked here. It was here that the CPC Central Committee led China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and led the famous Yan'an rectification movement and the large-scale production movement. It was also here that Comrade Mao Zedong put forward the famous thesis that "all reactionaries are paper tigers."
Is it the "song" of Nanniwan? Nanniwan is located 45 kilometers southeast of Yan'an City. In the spring of 1941, because the Kuomintang reactionaries at that time imposed an economic blockade on the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas, the CPC Central Committee ordered the 359th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to garrison Nanniwan to carry out production and self-help. In just three years, the deserted Nanniwan has become a "good Jiangnan".
Was it the "little Kang table" that Mao Zedong used? "The scenery of the northern country, the ice of thousands of miles, the snow of thousands of miles..." Mao Zedong's magnificent poem, we have all chanted countless times. But you know what? On February 7, 1936, Mao Zedong actually wrote this poem on the small Kang table of Bai Yucai, a farmer in Yuanjiagou in Wayao Fort, Qingjian County.
Was it Chen Jiageng's meal? During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Mr. Chen Jiageng, a scientist who returned from the United States, visited Chongqing and Yan'an respectively. He arrived in Chongqing first, and Chiang Kai-shek entertained him very warmly. And spent 800 yuan of ocean, set up a banquet for him in the best hotel in Chongqing. Then, Chen Jiageng went to Yan'an, and Mao Zedong also welcomed him very warmly and invited him to eat the vegetables he had grown by himself. Just this meal, it cost only two cents. Afterwards, Chen Jiageng said with deep emotion: "Chiang Kai-shek spent 800 oceans to entertain me, while Mao Zedong only used two cents to entertain me." The Communist Party also wins the world! ”
The charm of Yan'an comes from a spirit. A spirit of conscious dedication to lofty revolutionary ideals and a spirit of serving the people wholeheartedly; a spirit of seeking truth from facts and linking theory with practice; a spirit of entrepreneurship of self-reliance and arduous struggle; a spirit of democracy and unity; and a spirit of criticism and self-criticism. That's why the red flag rolls, from weak to strong.
The spirit of Yan'an is a precious spiritual wealth that needs to be carried forward and inherited from generation to generation. The glory of the past is not the glory of the present; the glory of others is not the glory of oneself. Every Communist Party member should shoulder his or her own responsibilities, create his own glory, bring benefits to the people, and add glory to the party.
Author: Wang Jinyou
Editor: Tan Ding