A sculpture of the Red Army crossing the river stands at the entrance of the Red Army Long March Memorial Hall in Shigu Town, Yulong County, Lijiang, Yunnan. Photo by Zhu Zhenguo/Guangming Photo
The reporters of the "Long March Road Again" press corps marched along the march of the Red Army into Lijiang, Yunnan Province. Xinhua News Agency
The Long March Memorial Hall of the Red Army in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, recreates the scene of the Red Army crossing the river at shigu ferry. Photo by reporter Daniel Zhang/Guangming Photo
Yunnan Diqing Red Army Long March Museum. Photo by Ren Weidong/Guangming Photo
【Magnificent 70 Years of Struggle for a New Era--Reporters Take the Long March Again】
Rolling Jinsha River, from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau all the way to the south, in northwest Yunnan Lijiang Stone Drum suddenly turned a big bend, mightily flowed east, with the first bay of the Yangtze River, there will be two encounters between the Jinsha River and the Red Army.
More than 80 years ago, the Central Red Army and the Red Second and Sixth Armies successively marched westward, like two red dragons, and met unexpectedly on the Yunling Plateau and the mighty Jinsha River, writing the legend of crossing the river twice related to China's destiny, leaving behind the generous and magnificent song of the masses of all ethnic groups sacrificing their lives to support the Long March of the Red Army and rescue the soldiers of the Red Army.
Today, in the places where the Long March of the Red Army on both sides of the Jinsha River has passed, the great spirit of the Red Army not being afraid of expeditions and difficulties still inspires the people of all nationalities to build their homes and fight a decisive battle to get rid of poverty. Many poverty-stricken areas in Yunnan have taken the lead in lifting themselves out of poverty, changing the way of nature and making their homes more beautiful.
The figure of a boatman at a Red Army port
"Artillery fire flew across pudu water, and the red flag pointed directly at the Jinsha River. After hearing the golden drum, he was worried, and the previous light boat was ecstatic. Looking at the Jade Dragon Shu Scale Armor from afar, Huishi Kangzang headed north. Xiao Ke, commander of the Red Sixth Army, wrote a poem "Crossing the Jinsha River in the North" after the Long March across the Jinsha River, which contained both the arrogance of crossing the river in victory and the gratitude to the masses for helping them cross the river.
At noon on April 27, 1936, in the area of Cike north of Shigu on the Jinsha River, the 15th Regiment of the Red Fifth Division was crossing the river, because the military horses were frightened when they crossed to the heart of the river, causing a small boat to sink, forty or fifty Red Army soldiers and a batch of military supplies unfortunately fell into the rapids, the one-armed division commander He Bingyan quickly organized rescue, and the father and son of Peng Fengyi, a boatman on the Jinjiang River in Zhongdian, on the shore, quickly rowed over and struggled to save more than 20 Red Army soldiers; Yin Xuefu, a farmer in Lijiang Cike who was rescued from prison by the Red Army, also rowed a raft to participate in the rescue and rescued a company commander and a trumpeter. In the end, more than 20 Red Army soldiers unfortunately died, and Cike Boatman Zhou Changshou also sacrificed his precious life in the process of rescuing the Fallen Red Army.
The boatmen sacrificed their lives to save the Red Army, because they were grateful to the Red Army for coming to the rescue and opening the prison door.
On July 21, on the banks of the Jinsha River in Cike Village, Yulong County, Yin Xuefu's son, Yin Zhengguo, told reporters that his father was imprisoned for "defaulting on renting two stones of grain." When the Red Army passed through Lijiang, Yin Xuefu was rescued from prison, and Yin Xuefu was grateful, led the way for the Red Army as a guide, and found two wooden boats and 5 boatmen to help the Red Army cross the river day and night.
According to incomplete statistics, in May 1935, the Central Red Army crossed the Jinsha River, of which 37 boatmen rowed for the Red Army at Kyaukpyeongdu and 8 boatmen at Hongmendu. In 1936, at the seven Red Army crossings from Shigu to Judian, a total of 28 boatmen helped the Red Army cross the river. At that time, both the Central Red Army and the Red Second and Sixth Armies were surrounded and blocked by the Kuomintang troops, and "if you cross the river, you will survive, and if you cross the river, you will win." These boatmen risked their lives to break the tradition of "crossing the golden sand without night" and crossed the river day and night, so that the Red Army was freed from the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops.
When the Red Army passed through Yunnan, many people along the way took the initiative to lead the way for the Red Army. In Lijiang, there is a story of a Naxi youth named Sang Lotte who served as a guide for the Red Army, and when the Red Second Army arrived in Lijiang, he rescued Sang Lotte, who was imprisoned because he could not afford to pay for the lawsuit. In order to thank the Red Army for saving his life, he hiked more than 200 kilometers, crossed the snowy mountains, and brought the Red Army team to Zhongdian, on the way he was shot and wounded in the calf, and the Red Army took out the warhead for him and sent a horse back to his hometown.
In Yunnan, there are many people like Yin Xuefu and Sang Lotte who were rescued by the Red Army and actively helped the Red Army. More people have heard and witnessed the Red Army's discipline and rescue of the poor, believing that the Red Army is their own army, actively opening their homes and villages to welcome the Red Army, sending food and water to the Red Army, and sewing clothes and quilts. During the Red Army's stay in Lijiang, a total of 34 tailors rushed to make clothes, hats, and rice bags, 71 people of all nationalities volunteered to guide the Red Army, and more than 1,000 peasant families lived in the Red Army.
"Fearless of danger and evil to save the Red Army, deep affection for the long generation of descendants"
From eastern Yunnan, central Yunnan to western Yunnan, there are touching stories of people of all nationalities who risk their lives to hide and rescue the wounded of the Red Army.
In Fuyuan County, Qujing City, Eastern Yunnan, there is also a story of the cattle farm "Red Army Cave". On the 24th day of the third lunar month in 1935, a seventeen-year-old red army soldier surnamed Zhang, who was working as an operator in the Central Red Army, entered Yunnan, he was unconscious due to a leg injury, and when he woke up, he could not find the team. A few days later, when the security chief heard that the Li family had adopted a small Red Army, he brought people to the house to search and interrogate and hang Li Yuntong. Li Yuntong never revealed the whereabouts of the Little Red Army. Li Yuntong was seriously injured by bao Chang for protecting the Little Red Army, and died not long after the Little Red Army left.
In Daxishan Village, Fumin County, Kunming City, central Yunnan, the Red Army left 3 Red Army wounded when they passed by, and the Kuomintang troops buried them alive in the village after catching the wounded, the enemy just left, the villager Li Zhen disregarded the danger of killing the head, hurriedly cut the soil to rescue the Red Army, two Red Army soldiers were still alive, Li Zhen quietly carried them home to recuperate, escaping the enemy's search and arrest again and again. In 1987, Chen Jing, an old Red Army soldier, visited Li Zhen in Fumin and wrote down two sentences: "Save the Red Army without fear of danger, and pass on your feelings to your descendants for a long time."
In Judian Town, Yulong County, Western Yunnan, an important Red Army crossing, villager Shu Maocai and his father rescued 7 Red Army soldiers when he was young, and one of them was killed because he did not want to involve his fellow villagers and came out to scold the enemy. The remaining 6 Reds were quietly sent away after being hidden by Shu Maocai's father and son for many days.
The masses of all nationalities in Yunnan not only sacrificed their lives to support the Red Army, but also dedicated thousands of outstanding sons and daughters to the Red Army.
"When I came to Tashi in February, the troops were reorganized and neatly reorganized, the guerrillas in southern Sichuan were developed, and the Red Army was expanded by more than 3,000." This is the "Long March Song" compiled by Lu Dingyi and Jia Tuofu after they arrived in northern Shaanxi, which vividly describes the scene of young people of all nationalities in Weixin County in northeast Yunnan enthusiastically joining the Red Army. In May 1935, the Ninth Army of the Central Red Army entered Huize from Xuanwei, opened the granary of the local tycoons and inferior gentry and distributed grain, and the poor people felt the warmth brought by the Communist Party, and in just two or three days, the Red Army added more than 1,500 people in Huize.
Inherit the spirit of the Long March to build a beautiful homeland
On July 22, this reporter went to Judian Town, Yulong County, on the border with Weixi County of Shangri-La City, and saw the rolling waves on the Jinsha River, as if hearing the oars, military trumpets, and horse hisses of thousands of troops and horses of the Red Army crossing the river. Walking into the judian village in the middle of the beautiful and rich Judian Dam, I saw that every household was building houses in full swing, two or three-story buildings were rising from the ground, and thick cables were being erected on the street.
Shu Chenggang, head of the second group of Judian Village in Yulong County, told reporters that in early November last year, the Jinsha River Weir Lake at the junction of Sichuan and Tibet was discharged, and an unprecedented flood came down the river to Judian Damzi, and all the Judian Village, which is close to the river, was submerged, most of the houses of more than 200 peasant households were destroyed, and more than 500 villagers lost their homes. At the moment of crisis, the local party committee and government quickly organized forces to transfer and resettle the disaster-stricken people in a timely manner, rescue the property of the disaster-stricken people, and ensure that no one was killed or injured; the national and provincial finances allocated special funds to help Judian Village rebuild their homes, each family built a subsidy of 122,500 yuan and 7 tons of cement, each family also had a 100,000 yuan housing loan discounted by the government, every family has the ability to build a house, and more than 500 disaster victims can move into new houses before the Spring Festival next year.
"If there was such a big flood before the founding of New China, I don't know how many people would die. Without state help, we would not be able to rebuild houses. Shu Jiaxun, a villager in his 60s, sighed to reporters. He and his wife were carrying construction waste, and behind them, a new two-story brick-concrete house was basically completed.
Li Jinxun, secretary of the party committee of Judian Town, told reporters that over the years, the cadres and masses of Judian Town have carried forward the spirit of the Long March and become self-reliant and self-reliant; last year they not only withstood the test of the flooding of the Jinsha River and the Dammed Lake, but also worked with the people of the whole county to get rid of poverty and remove their hats, the housing conditions were greatly improved, and the problem of water shortage was completely solved. Three years ago, the Grand Bridge was erected on the nearby Jinsha River, and the people of Judian no longer have to rely on boats to cross the river.
In April 1936, the Red Second Army, led by He Long, came to Lijiang, and the story of the three red army of the people of Lijiang was spread from then on. In 1996, Lijiang experienced a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that had not been encountered in a hundred years, destroying the beautiful homeland where the ancestors had lived for generations, but the people of all ethnic groups in Lijiang, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee, the State Council, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, and with the assistance of all sectors of society, carried forward the spirit of the Long March of not being afraid of difficulties and being self-reliant, and built more beautiful homes on the ruins, making Lijiang a tourist attraction favored by domestic and foreign tourists.
Looking back at history, the Red Army passed through 17 counties in Yunnan, and the Red Second and Sixth Armies passed through 27 counties in Yunnan, leaving immortal footprints and eternal memories in the land of Yunling. The spirit of the Red Army's Long March of not being afraid of sacrifice and not being afraid of hardship inspired the sons and daughters of Yunling to overcome poverty, and the areas where the Red Army's Long March traveled in Yunnan became one of the fastest areas in Yunnan to get rid of poverty. Among the first 15 counties in Yunnan to get rid of poverty in 2018, 7 counties were passed by the Red Army's Long March. Among the 33 counties in Yunnan this year that announced the second batch of poverty alleviation, 7 counties walked by the Red Army bid farewell to poverty.
The history of the Red Army's Long March through Yunnan proves that the heroic Red Army was able to complete the Great Long March because there were great people supporting the Red Army to move forward bravely. The great spirit of the Long March has inspired the people of all ethnic groups to work hard and constantly create a happy and beautiful new life. (Reporter Daniel Zhang)