Address: Guanjian Mountain, Fengwo town, Pingyang county, Wenzhou, Zhejiang province Opening hours: 9 am to 5 pm Admission: Free
Aerial view of the Memorial Park of the First Congress of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee at the Southern Zhejiang (Pingyang) Base for the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression [Photo provided to chinaservicesinfo.com]
The Southern Zhejiang (Pingyang) Base for the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) was established in 1935 by the Red Army led by the Communist Party of China. It is home to more than 20 red tourism sites, including the Monument to the Red Army Vanguard Division of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Army, the site where part of General Su Yu’s ashes were scattered, the former site of the Fujian-Zhejiang Border Cadre School during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, and the site of the CPC First Congress in Zhejiang province.
The base was established by the Red Army’s Vanguard Division, which was formed from breakout forces of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army Northbound Advance Detachment of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, tasked with supporting the Long March. Under the leadership of Liu Ying (1905-42) and Su Yu (1907-84), the Vanguard Division entered southern Zhejiang in 1935, where it joined forces with Ye Fei (1914-99) and others from the Fujian-Zhejiang Border Special Committee, as well as with the local underground Communist Party and Red Army guerrillas, to establish a key base area.
In March 1938, Zeng Shan (1899-1972), deputy secretary and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Southeast Bureau, came to Pingyang to convey the directives of the Central Committee, stipulating that over 500 main force troops of the Forward Operations Division, led by Comrade Su Yu, were to march north to the southern Anhui front to resist Japanese aggression while Liu Ying and others were to remain active in the base in Pingyang. The ad hoc Fujian-Zhejiang Border Provincial Committee was to be dissolved, and the Provisional Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China was to be established. In July 1939, the First Congress of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee was held in Guanjian and Matougang in Fengwo, Pingyang. This congress played an important role in unifying and strengthening the Party’s leadership in Zhejiang, consolidating Party organization, and promoting unity in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
