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120-650: Yan'an was near the endpoint of the Long March , and became the center of the Chinese Communist Revolution from late 1935 to early 1947. Chinese communists celebrate Yan'an as the birthplace of the revolution. As of 2019, Yan'an has approximately 2,255,700 permanent residents. Yan'an was populated at least as early as the Xia dynasty . During the Spring and Autumn period , the area was inhabited by

240-419: A birth rate of 9.80‰ ( per thousand ), and a death rate of 5.97‰, giving the city a rate of natural increase of 3.83‰. This is a slight decrease from 2018, when the rate of natural increase was 4.30‰. In 2019, urban households earned an average disposable income of 34,888 RMB , an 8.3% increase from the previous year. Rural households earned a lower average of 11,876 RMB, reflecting a 10.1% increase from

360-442: A 6.9% increase from the previous year. Of Yan'an's county-level divisions , Baota District recorded the largest GDP in 2019, totaling 36.391 billion RMB. Baota District is followed by Luochuan County and Huangling County , which recorded economic outputs totaling 24.387 billion and 18.593 billion RMB, respectively. Yan'an is largely reliant on its secondary sector , which comprises the majority of its GDP as of 2019. As of 2019,

480-460: A CCP delegate, but withdrew his opposition when it became clear that his life and freedom were largely dependent on Communist goodwill towards him. Influencing his decision was also the arrival of Madame Chiang on 22 December, who had travelled to Xi'an hoping to secure his speedy release, fearing military intervention from factions within the Kuomintang. On 24 December, Chiang received Zhou for

600-525: A base area there. In a meeting to decide the army's direction, Zhou sided with Mao, making Braun "fly into a rage because he was overruled in the debate." At the meeting it was decided that the Red Army would travel towards Zunyi , in western Guizhou. On January 1, 1935, the Red Army reached the Wu River. Bo and Braun again insisted the Red Army move back to western Hunan to join other Communist troops in

720-638: A coup in "great secrecy". By June 1936, the secret agreement between Zhang and the CCP had been successfully settled. In November 1936, Zhang asked Chiang to come to Xi'an to raise the morale of troops unwilling to fight the Communists. After Chiang agreed, Zhang informed Mao Zedong , who called the plan "a masterpiece". At Xi'an, Chiang stayed in his resort headquarters at the Huaqing Pool complex. On 12 December 1936, bodyguards of Zhang and Yang stormed

840-920: A daughter. Because of the harsh conditions, the infant was left with a local family. The Communist forces were harassed by both the Kuomintang and local warlords . To avoid a fatal confrontation, Zhou and Mao maneuvered the Red army south and west, through Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, feigning attacks on Guiyang and Kunming to disguise their movements. The First Red Army crossed the Yangtze (the section of Jinsha River ) on May 9, 1935, finally escaping determined pursuit, but still had to deal with dangerous mountain passes at heights of up to 4,000 meters, rough climatic conditions, shortages of food, clothing, and equipment, and tribes of local ethnic groups hostile to Chinese encroachment. The Red Army had to capture river crossings defended by warlords and Nationalist troops. The most famous

960-470: A decisive battle and drove deep into the heart of the Central Soviet Area. When Ruijin became exposed to KMT attack, Party leaders faced the choice of either remaining and perishing or of abandoning the base area and attempting to break through the enemy encirclement. In August 1934, with the Red Army depleted by the prolonged conflict, a spy, Mo Xiong , who had been placed by Zhou Enlai in

1080-547: A distaste for collective labour". Subsequently, these types of large-scale labor projects would be handled by the army. In 1941, Mao Zedong put special influence on a series of training programs to "correct unorthodox tendencies" and essentially mold the peasantry to the communist model. One of the first CCP programs launched was the Yan'an Rectification Movement . During the Second World War almost all buildings, except

1200-643: A founding member of the CCP, was never able to challenge Mao's authority. After an expedition of almost a year, the Second Red Army reached Bao'an (Shaanxi) on October 22, 1936, known in China as the "union of the three armies", and the end of the Long March. All along the way, the Communist Army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and

1320-432: A large section of Chiang's blockhouse lines that were manned by troops under General Chen Jitang , a Guangdong warlord who Zhou identified as being likely to prefer preserving the strength of his troops over fighting. Zhou sent Pan Hannian to negotiate for safe passage with General Chen, who subsequently allowed the Red Army to pass through the territory that he controlled without fighting. The Red army successfully crossed

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1440-525: A local warlord rather than to the central government. The central government had to fight several wars during the early 1930s to keep these warlords in line (for example, see Central Plains War ). When the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, the Nationalist government decided it was not ready to confront Japan directly and instead focused on consolidating their control of the country. This policy

1560-462: A meeting, the first time the two had seen each other since Zhou had left Whampoa Military Academy over ten years earlier. Zhou began the conversation by saying: "In the ten years since we have met, you seem to have aged very little." Chiang nodded and said: "Enlai, you were my subordinate. You should do what I say." Zhou replied that if Chiang would halt the civil war and resist the Japanese instead,

1680-431: A military campaign against Xi'an, and immediately sent a regiment to capture Tongguan . Soong Mei-ling and Kong Xiangxi were strongly in favor of negotiating a settlement to ensure the safety of Chiang. A faction of the army led by Yang Hucheng and the radical young officers of the "Anti-Japanese Comrade Society" wanted to execute Chiang, but Zhang and the Communists insisted that he be kept alive in order to maintain

1800-517: A move. They wanted to pressure Chiang into changing his policies instead. Zhou Enlai led the Communist negotiating team, which after two weeks agreed to release Chiang. Although Chiang publicly repudiated the verbal promises he made in Xi'an, a ceasefire was declared and talks with Zhou continued. The rapprochement between the Communists and Nationalists outraged the Japanese, and eventually helped lead to

1920-523: A number of observers found it to be worse in the region than elsewhere in rural China. In 1934, two regional soviets were established. In October 1935, following the Long March , forces of the Chinese Red Army arrived in the area from Jiangxi . The following month, communist forces established a regional government in Wayaobao and re-organized regional soviet administrations. In May 1936,

2040-523: A pagoda, were destroyed by Japanese bombing, and most inhabitants took to living in yaodongs , artificial caves or dugouts carved into hillsides which were traditional dwellings in Shaanxi . While Yan'an was the center of Chinese communist life many prominent Western journalists including Edgar Snow and Anna Louise Strong met with Mao Zedong and other important leaders for interviews. Other Westerners, such as Hsiao Li and Michael Lindsay , were part of

2160-558: A planned attack in advance and decided to pull out. From then until their capture of Beijing they were usually based somewhere else, often with a mobile headquarters. In May 1950, under the People's Republic of China , Yan'an was re-organized as Yan'an District, and was further re-organized as a special district ( Chinese : 专区 ) in October. Yan'an was later established as an area ( Chinese : 地区 ). On November 5, 1996, Yan'an Area

2280-416: A population of 51,000, but only 170 remained in 1868; while Yan'an (present-day Baota District ) had 61,200 inhabitants in 1823, but only about 10,000 in 1930. One account from a British traveler in 1911 described Yan'an as "a city of pretentious Government Offices long fallen into decay...Gazing down a vista of dim distant years one caught a glimpse of past splendour; but the living forces of which it had been

2400-451: A rear guard, to divert the main force of Nationalist troops from noticing, and preventing, the general withdrawal. The first movements to screen the retreat were undertaken by forces led by Fang Zhimin , breaking through Kuomintang lines in June 1934. Although Fang Zhimin's troops were soon destroyed, these movements surprised the Kuomintang, who were numerically superior to the Communists at

2520-453: A reshuffling of the Party politburo . Zhou intended the conference to draw lessons from the Red Army's past failures, and to develop strategies for the future. Much of the discussion revolved around whether the defeats of the Red Army were due to unavoidable circumstances, or inadequacies of leadership. Bo Gu, the first speaker, attributed the Red Army's losses to "objective" causes, particularly

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2640-460: Is 183.30 thousand hectares , of which, 72.79 thousand hectares are used for growing maize . Sizable tracts of land in Yan'an are also used to grow vegetables and soybeans . Yan'an has the second largest cotton production out of all the prefecture-level cities in Shaanxi , behind just Weinan . The city also grows a large amount of rapeseeds , peanuts , apples , jujubes , and apricots . Yan'an

2760-452: Is a major center for Red tourism in China, with facilities such as the Yan'an Revolution Memorial Hall attracting Chinese citizens and Communist Party cadres seeking to learn more about the Party's history. Red tourism to Yan'an significantly increased in the years following Xi Jinping's 2015 visit, with 40.25 million tourist visits in 2016 and 73.08 million tourist visits in 2019. In 2021,

2880-405: Is a major oil and gas center in China. In 2018, 15,292,400 tons of crude oil were extracted from the city. Of this, 8,565,800 tons were extracted by Yanchang Petroleum , and the remaining 6,726,600 tons were extracted as part of CNPC 's Changqing Oil Field . The Changqing Oil Field, part of the wider Ordos basin, one of China's main petroleum-producing regions, has been home to oil extraction since

3000-479: Is also the second largest honey producer in Shaanxi, behind Hanzhong . As of 2019, the city's industrial output is worth 96.510 billion RMB, a 6.4% increase from the previous year at constant prices. In 2018, the petroleum industry alone accounted for 54.419 billion RMB of output. In addition to oil and natural gas, major industries in the city include coal mining, power generation, and cigarette production. Yan'an

3120-627: Is home to 251 standard primary schools and 112 standard secondary schools , enrolling 218,100 and 129,900 students, respectively. The city also has 556 kindergartens, enrolling 119,500 students. The city also has 5 special education schools, serving 372 disabled students. As of 2019, Yan'an has 13 public libraries. Yan'an is home to 2,631 healthcare institutions as of 2019, which contain 14,560 medical beds, and are staffed by 24,298 employees. Long March [REDACTED] Nationalist China The Long March ( Chinese : 长征 ; pinyin : Chángzhēng ; lit. 'Long Expedition')

3240-578: The Beidi people . During the Western Wei the area was organized as Yanzhou  [ zh ] . Under the Sui dynasty , the area was re-organized as Yan'an Commandery  [ zh ] , and a military base was established. The area became an important defensive outpost for the subsequent Tang dynasty , which renamed the area Yanzhou in 758 CE. Yanzhou was a location of strategic military importance for

3360-484: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chiang was released with a verbal promise to end the civil war and put up a firmer resistance to Japan. Before the incident, Chiang Kai-shek had followed a strategy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" that entailed eliminating the CCP before confronting Japanese aggression. This strategy was deeply unpopular among many groups in China, including

3480-593: The Communist Party's Yan'an period presented with a light show on the mountains and an audio-visual projection on Baota Mountain. Shortly before the Centenary of the Communist Party, Yan'an launched the "Red Stars Flying Me to Yan'an from Thirteen Cities" imitative, which sought to promote tourism to Yan'an for the study of revolutionary history, including with drastically reduced airfare. Yan'an

3600-750: The National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War , which nominally integrated the Communist forces into the NRA, forming the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army . The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu with Soviet support. The CCP initially collaborated with the nationalist Kuomintang, founded by the revolutionary republican Sun Yat-sen . However, after

3720-472: The Northeastern Army tasked with suppressing the main Communist base in Yan'an . The Northeastern Army was mainly composed of troops exiled from Manchuria after that region was invaded by Japan in 1931. Northeastern Army soldiers and officers had also begun to fraternize with the Communists and were convinced of the need for a united Nationalist-Communist front against Japan. The commanders of

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3840-402: The Northeastern Army under Zhang Xueliang. Despite its success against the Communists, the policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" faced strong public criticism. Leftists opposed the civil war against the Communists and right-wing nationalists desired greater resistance to Japan. Zhang Xueliang was one of the regime's critics. He had governed Manchuria before it

3960-654: The Second Sino-Japanese War . The full-scale Japanese invasion hastened the formal joining of the two Chinese factions in the Second United Front . In the late 1930s, the Nationalist Chinese government faced a number of overlapping problems. Since Chiang Kai-shek had purged the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1927, the Communists had led a widespread rural insurgency . The Nationalists found it difficult to organize an effective suppression campaign, in part because many of their armies answered to

4080-557: The Xinfeng River and marched through the province of Guangdong and into Hunan before encountering the last of Chiang's fortifications at the Xiang River . After passing through three of the four blockhouse fortifications needed to escape Chiang's encirclement, the Red Army was finally intercepted by regular Nationalist troops, and suffered heavy casualties. Of the 86,000 Communists who attempted to break out of Jiangxi with

4200-591: The "Front Red Armies", correspondingly numbered. The First Red Army under the command of Bo Gu and Otto Braun formed from the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Army Corps in southern Jiangxi. When several units formed the Fourth Red Army under Zhang Guotao in the Sichuan – Shaanxi border area, no standard naming system yet existed, in part lending to limited central control by the CCP over separate Communist-controlled enclaves. After these first two forces were organized,

4320-708: The Battle of Luding Bridge. Xi%27an Incident The Xi'an Incident was a major Chinese political crisis from 12 to 26 December 1936. Chiang Kai-shek , leader of the Nationalist government of China , was placed under house arrest in the city of Xi'an by a Nationalist army he was there to review. Chiang's captors hoped to end the Chinese Civil War and confront Japanese imperial expansion into Chinese territory. After two weeks of intense negotiations between Chiang, his captors, and representatives of

4440-561: The CCP and Nanjing continued. However, when a conference of Northeastern officers in January 1937 overwhelmingly resolved not to surrender peacefully, the CCP reluctantly decided that they could not abandon their allies and pledged to fight alongside them if the KMT attacked. The situation was again reversed when the five most senior Northeastern generals met separately and decided to surrender. The radical officers were enraged and assassinated one of

4560-545: The CCP, expulsion of pro-Japanese factions from the Nationalist government, and the adoption of an active anti-Japanese military stance. They attempted to broadcast these demands publicly, but Nationalist censorship prevented their publication outside the Communist-held areas. On 16 December, Zhou Enlai and Lin Boqu arrived in Xi'an to represent the CCP in negotiations. At first, Chiang was opposed to negotiating with

4680-717: The CCP. In 1932 he established a soviet in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area, and in August 1934 received command of the Second Red Army, establishing a base in Hubei. An advance party of the First Red Army, called the Sixth Corps, commanded by Xiao Ke, was sent towards the Second Red Army two months before the beginning of the Long March. Xiao Ke's force would link up with He Long and his army, but lost communication with

4800-728: The CCP. The initial period of cooperation to unify China and end the unequal treaties broke up in April 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek struck out against the Communists . Unsuccessful urban insurrections (in Nanchang , Wuhan and Guangzhou ) and the suppression of the CCP in Shanghai and other cities drove many party supporters to rural strongholds such as the Jiangxi Soviet, which was organized by Mao Zedong. By 1928, deserters and defecting Kuomintang army units, supplemented by peasants from

4920-638: The Chinese empire and Tanguts of the Western Xia dynasty. It was once successfully defended by the Song dynasty era Chinese scientist, statesman, and general Shen Kuo . However, it was eventually taken over by the Tanguts in 1082 once Shen's defensive victories were marginalized and sacrificed by the new chancellor Cai Que (who handed the city over to the Tanguts as terms of a peace treaty). In 1089, under

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5040-652: The Communist forces politically and militarily include John S. Service of the United States Department of State , and Colonel David D. Barrett of the United States Army . The mission explored possible plans for cooperation against the Japanese. The Americans had a presence in Yan'an from 1944 to 1947. Yan'an was briefly captured in the Battle of Yan'an by the Kuomintang forces in the Chinese Civil War . The Communist leadership learned of

5160-608: The Communist rural soviets, formed the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. The ideological confrontation between the CCP and the KMT soon evolved into the first phase of the Chinese Civil War. By 1930, the Red Army had established the Chinese Soviet Republic in the provinces of Jiangxi and Fujian around the city of Ruijin , including industrial facilities. After the establishment of

5280-457: The Communists and the generals who later staged the Xi'an Incident . Snow actually met Mao at Bao'an (Pao An). Having rebelled against Chiang, the local warlords decided to hand over Yan'an to the Communists, who were now allies. They pulled out, and in January 1937, the Red Army entered Yan'an, without a fight. This is described by Agnes Smedley in her book Battle Hymn of China . She was in Xi'an at

5400-591: The First Army that came behind. It was at this point that Li Zhen 's unit was assigned to He Long's command, having already served in the Sixth Corps. On November 19, 1935, the Second Red Army set out on its own Long March. He Long's force was driven further west than the First Red Army, all the way to Lijiang in Yunnan province, then across the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain massif and through

5520-567: The First Red Army, only 36,000 successfully escaped. Due to the low morale within the Red Army at the time, it is not possible to know what proportion of these losses were due to military casualties, and which proportion were due to desertion. The conditions of the Red Army's forced withdrawal demoralized some Communist leaders (particularly Bo Gu and Otto Braun), but Zhou remained calm and retained his command. Most Communist losses occurred over only two days of heavy fighting, from November 30 to December 1, 1934. After escaping Chiang's encirclement, it

5640-450: The Fourth Red Army. These changes had no long-term significance because Zhang and Mao disagreed with the direction of the army. Zhang insisted on going southwest, while Mao insisted on going northwards, towards Shaanxi. No agreement was reached, and the two armies eventually split, each going their separate ways. Zhang Guotao's Fourth Red Army took a different route than Mao, travelling south, then west, and finally north through China. On

5760-460: The Japanese. The Communists took advantage of dissent in the Nationalist camp. They made repeated exhortations for Chinese unity against Japan. In February 1936, they announced that they were sending a detachment through Shanxi to fight the Japanese in Rehe and Hubei. Letting the Red Army through would have broken the encirclement, so Yan Xishan stopped them by force. Although defeated militarily,

5880-465: The Jiangxi Soviet, Mao's status within the Party declined. In 1930, Mao claimed a need to eliminate alleged KMT spies and Anti-Bolsheviks operating inside the Jiangxi Soviet and began an ideological campaign featuring torture and guilt by association, in order to eliminate his enemies. The campaign continued until the end of 1931, killing approximately 70,000 people and reducing the size of the Red Army from 40,000 to less than 10,000. The de facto leader of

6000-541: The KMT army headquarters in Nanchang, brought news that Chiang Kai-shek was preparing a major offensive against the Communist capital, Ruijin. The Communist leadership decided on a strategic retreat to regroup with other Communist units, and to avoid annihilation. The original plan was to link up with the Second Red Army commanded by He Long, thought to be in Hubei to the west and north. Communications between divided groups of

6120-553: The Long March. After the defeat of the Red Army in Chiang Kai-shek 's Fifth Encirclement Campaign , on 10 October 1934 the CCP decided to abandon its Jiangxi Soviet and headquarters in Ruijin , Fujian . The First Front Red Army of some 86,000 troops headed west, traveling over the rugged terrain of China's western provinces, including eastern Tibet . The Red Army broke several of Chiang’s blockades with heavy losses, and by

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6240-517: The March also went on to become prominent party leaders well into the 1990s, including Zhu De, Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , Dong Biwu , Ye Jianying , Li Xiannian , Yang Shangkun , Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. At the age of 9, Xiang Xuan , the nephew of He Long, was the youngest participant of the Long March. The last known survivor of the Long March, Tu Tongjin , a native of Changting, Fujian, died at

6360-485: The Nationalists and Chinese Communists formed a nominal alliance during the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 until 1945. During these years, the CCP persevered and strengthened its influence. The Red Army fought a disciplined and organized guerilla campaign against superior Japanese forces, allowing it to gain experience. Following the end of World War II , the resurgent Communist Eighth Route Army , later called

6480-583: The Northeastern Army and force them to stand down. The army was deeply divided on the appropriate response. Yang Hucheng and the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society wanted to stand and fight if the KMT army attacked, and refuse to negotiate until Zhang was released. The Communist representatives strongly disagreed and cautioned that civil war would, in the words of Zhou Enlai, "make China into another Spain ". Negotiations between

6600-412: The Northeastern Army, Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng , decided to kidnap Chiang after the latter refused repeated entreaties to change his policies. Zhang invited Chiang to come review the Northeastern Army, and after Chiang arrived, had him placed under house arrest at the Huaqing Pool complex. Some radical army officers wanted Chiang executed, but both Zhang and the CCP strongly opposed such

6720-619: The Party, and Mao's old comrade, Zhu De . Zhou's support was not enough, and Mao was demoted to being a figurehead in the Soviet government, until he regained his position later, during the Long March. In early 1933, Bo Gu arrived in Jiangxi with the German Comintern adviser Otto Braun and took control of Party affairs. Zhou at this time, apparently with strong support from Party and military colleagues, reorganized and standardized

6840-479: The People's Liberation Army, returned to drive the Kuomintang out of Mainland China to the island of Taiwan . Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Long March has been glorified as an example of the CCP's strength and resilience. The Long March solidified Mao's status as the undisputed leader of the CCP, though he did not officially become party chairman until 1943. Other survivors of

6960-591: The Red Army convinced the Shanxi peasantry of their patriotism and gained 8,000 new recruits on their retreat. Zhang Xueliang was impressed, and began to see them as potential allies rather than foes. When Mao announced on March 14 that the Communists were willing to conclude a truce, Zhang covertly agreed. He proposed to Chiang Kai-shek that he reverse the Nationalist policy of prioritizing the purge of Communists, and instead focusing on military preparation against Japanese aggression. After Chiang refused, Zhang began to plot

7080-694: The Red Army crossed the Wu River , and a week later held the Zunyi Conference , which reduced Soviet influence in the Politburo and established Mao's position as de facto leader. Employing guerrilla warfare , Mao maneuvered to avoid direct confrontation with Chiang's forces and led the Red Army out of encirclements by local warlords. The First Front Army met the Fourth Front Army, led by Zhang Guotao , in Sichuan ; they disagreed on

7200-431: The Red Army had been disrupted by the Kuomintang campaign. During the planning to evacuate Jiangxi, the First Red Army was unaware that these other Communist forces were also retreating westward. Since the Central Base Area could not be held, the Standing Committee appointed Bo (responsible for politics), Braun (responsible for military strategy), and Zhou (responsible for the implementation of military planning) to organize

7320-534: The Red Army would willingly accept Chiang's command. By the end of the meeting, Chiang promised to end the civil war, to resist the Japanese together, and to invite Zhou to Nanjing for further talks. Chiang was released on 26 December and returned to Nanjing with Zhang Xueliang. After Chiang returned to Nanjing, he announced a cease fire in the civil war. However, he also repudiated any promises that he had made in Xi'an. He had Zhang imprisoned and charged with treason. Chiang then sent 37 army divisions north to surround

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7440-404: The Red Army. Under Zhou, Bo, and Braun, the Red Army defeated four attacks by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops. Chiang's fifth campaign was much more difficult to contain. In September 1933, the National Revolutionary Army under Chiang Kai-shek eventually completely encircled Jiangxi, with the advice and tactical assistance of his German adviser, Hans von Seeckt . A fortified perimeter

7560-425: The Second Red Army was formed in eastern Guizhou by unifying the 2nd Army Corps under Xiao Ke with the 6th Army Corps under He Long . A Third Red Army was briefly led by He in the area straddling the Hunan–Hubei border, but its defeat in 1932 led to its merger with the 6th Army Corps in October 1934. These three armies would maintain their historical designations until the formation of the Second United Front with

7680-484: The Song dynasty, Yanzhou was renamed to Yan'an, and was promoted to a fu ( Chinese : 府 ). Yan'an and the whole of Shaanxi were taken over by the Mongols in the late 1220s, only after their leader Genghis Khan had died during the siege of the Western Xia capital in 1227. The demographic impacts of this was felt for decades, as the local economy cratered, and insufficient government support hindered recovery efforts: In 1823, Bao'an (present-day Zhidan County ) had

7800-466: The Tibetan highlands of western Sichuan. He Long and Xiao Ke were married to sisters who also accompanied the army. He Long's wife, Jian Xianren, carried the baby daughter she had given birth to three weeks before the retreat began. Jian Xianfo gave birth to a son in the desolate swamps of northern Sichuan. Forces of the Second Army detained two European missionaries, Rudolf Bosshardt and Arnolis Hayman, for 16 months. Bosshardt later related his account of

7920-515: The Yellow River flowing through Yan'an, the city's major rivers include the Yan River and the Luo River . Yan'an has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dwa ) that borders on a steppe climate (Köppen BSk ), with cold, dry, and moderately long winters, and hot, somewhat humid summers. Spring and autumn are short transition seasons in between. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.5 °C (22.1 °F) in January to 23.1 °C (73.6 °F) in July, and

8040-400: The age of 108 on April 3rd, 2023. The Chinese government produced a movie in 2006, My Long March , relating personal experiences of a fictional participant in the Long March. The movie, released in celebration of the 71st year since the end of the March, was the second of three movies in the Axis of War movie series, retelling the events stretching from the Battle of the Xiang River up to

8160-686: The annual mean is 9.90 °C (49.8 °F). The area receives 511 millimeters (20.1 in) of precipitation, 47% of which falls in July and August. Yan'an averages around 300 days of sunshine per year. As of 2019, Yan'an has approximately 2,255,700 permanent residents, a slight decrease from the 2,259,400 recorded in 2018. As of 2019, there are 2,336,587 people with a Yan'an hukou registration. This discrepancy reflects China's system of internal migration , as many hukou holders in more rural areas migrate to larger and more developed cities. Approximately 674,700 people lived in Yan'an's two districts ( Baota and Ansai ) as of 2019. In 2019, Yan'an recorded

8280-400: The area was re-organized by communist forces as Shaan-Gan-Ning Province ( Chinese : 陕甘宁省 ). In December 1936, at the start of the Second United Front , Yan'an was taken over by the Chinese Communists. When Edgar Snow went there in 1936, it was under Kuomintang control and a Red army siege had recently been lifted. Unknown to him at the time, there had also been contacts there between

8400-404: The area, but their prestige had considerably declined by that point, and their suggestion was rejected. Even Zhou had become impatient, and proposed a new rule which was put into effect immediately: that all military plans had to be submitted to the Politburo for approval. The movement passed, clearly depriving Braun of the right to direct military affairs. On January 15 the Red Army captured Zunyi,

8520-543: The border of Hunan and Guizhou, was convened to discuss the direction of the Red Army on December 12, 1934. Zhou endorsed Mao's proposal, encouraging other leaders to overrule the objections of Bo and Braun. Another dispute of the direction of the Red Army occurred soon after, once the Red Army reached Liping , in the mountains of southeast Guizhou. Braun believed that they should travel to eastern Guizhou, but Mao wanted to go to western Guizhou, where he expected KMT forces to be lighter and which borders Sichuan , and to establish

8640-627: The breakout; the remainder, largely wounded or ill soldiers, continued to fight a delaying action after the main force had left, and then dispersed into the countryside. Several prominent members of the Chinese Soviet who remained behind were captured and executed by the Kuomintang after the fall of Ruijin in November 1934, including Qu Qiubai and the youngest brother of Mao Zedong, Mao Zetan . The withdrawal began in early October 1934. Zhou's intelligence agents were successful in identifying

8760-405: The cabin where Chiang was sleeping. Chiang was able to escape but suffered an injury in the process. He was eventually detained by Zhang's troops in the morning. As conflicting reports of the events reached the capital, the Nationalist government was sent into disarray. The response to the coup from high-level officials was divided. The Military Affairs Commission led by He Yingqin recommended

8880-487: The campaigns gradually subsided. In December, of 1931 Zhou replaced Mao Zedong as Secretary of the First Front Army and political commissar of the Red Army. Liu Bocheng, Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai all criticized Mao's tactics at the August 1932 Ningdu Conference. The most senior leaders to support Mao in 1932 were Zhou Enlai, who had become disillusioned with the strategic leadership of other senior leaders in

9000-588: The chronological order of their formation. Indeed, early Communist units would often form by defection from existing Kuomintang forces, and they kept their original designations. By the time of the Long March, numerous small units had been organized into three unified Armies: the First, the Second, and the Fourth. To distinguish them from earlier organizational divisions, some translations opt to refer to these same units as

9120-405: The city's output in the fields of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishing totals 26.107 billion RMB. Of this, farming accounted for 21.798 billion RMB, animal husbandry accounted for 2.987 billion RMB, forestry accounted for 621.17 million RMB, fishing accounted for 72.82 million RMB, and agricultural services accounted for 628.32 million RMB. The total area of Yan'an's farmland in 2019

9240-689: The commission, and Wang Jiaxiang , whose support Mao had enlisted earlier. Within this group, Zhou was empowered to make the final decisions on military matters, while Mao was Zhou's assistant. Wang was in charge of Party affairs. When the army resumed its march northward, the direct route to Sichuan was blocked by Chiang's forces. Mao's forces spent the next several months maneuvering to avoid direct confrontation with hostile forces, but still attempting to move north to join Zhang Guotao 's Fourth Red Army. While Chiang's armies approached Mao in northern Guizhou from three directions, Mao maneuvered out of

9360-543: The details of daily life on the Long March in a book. Mao's First Red Army traversed several swamps and was attacked by Muslim Hui Ma clique forces under Generals Ma Bufang and Ma Buqing . Finally, in October 1935, Mao's army reached Shaanxi province and joined with local Communist forces there, led by Liu Zhidan , Gao Gang , and Xu Haidong , who had already established a Soviet base in northern Shaanxi. The remnants of Zhang's Fourth Red Army eventually rejoined Mao in Shaanxi, but with his army destroyed, Zhang, even as

9480-528: The development project Golden Yan'an opened as part of the Holy Land Valley Cultural Tourism Industrial Park. This tourist town is branded as the "new landmark of Red Tourism in China" and features old-fashioned Chinese streets and shops in the style of the 1930s Yan'an Soviet . The major attraction of Golden Yan'an is "The Ode of Yan'an" nightlight show. The free show depicts a series of historical moments from

9600-626: The drapery and symbols had long since died out, leaving stagnation, corruption and decay to reign in its halls". After the fall of the Qing dynasty, the city became part of the newly created Republic of China , and was reorganized by the Republican government in 1913 under Yulin Circuit  [ zh ] . Throughout the Republic of China, feudal -like landlordism persisted in Yan'an, and

9720-603: The early 1970s. The total retail sales of consumer goods in Yan'an totaled 41.113 billion RMB in 2019. The majority of these retail sales took place in Baota District, which recorded 24.000 billion RMB of sales that year. The Erdao Street Night Market ( Chinese : 二道街夜市 ; pinyin : Èrdào Jiē Yèshì ) is a street market in Baota District which features many of the hallmarks of Shaanbei culture, including local cuisine, décor, and folk music. The city

9840-608: The east across the Yellow River , and Qingyang of Gansu to the west across the Ziwu Ridge ( Chinese : 子午岭 ). The city's elevation is hilly, and is higher in the northwest, and lower in the southeast, ranging from 388 to 1,809 metres (1,273 to 5,935 ft) above sea level in elevation. The average elevation of Yan'an is approximately 1,000 m (3,280 ft), and Yan'an's urban core has an elevation of about 960 metres (3,150 ft) above sea level. In addition to

9960-500: The effort of the central government of China to penetrate and destabilize the local Han warlords such as Liu Wenhui . The Chinese government sought to exercise full control over frontier areas against the warlords. Liu had refused to do battle with the Red Army, to save his own military from destruction. The Consolatory Commission forces were used to battle the Communist Red Army, but were defeated when their religious leader

10080-631: The encirclement by crossing the Chishui River four times . Then, Mao led the Red Army, crossing the Wu River and marching towards Guiyang . He feigned an attack to this city when Chiang was visiting. Chiang ordered his army in Kunming to move eastward to save Guiyang, but the Red Army turned towards Kunming immediately and entered Yunnan, where the Yangtze River was lightly guarded. In February 1935, Mao's wife, He Zizhen , gave birth to

10200-407: The enemy's overwhelming numerical superiority, and poor coordination of Communist forces. Braun's interpreter, Wu Xiuquan , later recalled that Bo's arguments did not impress his audience, and that Bo came across as someone attempting to avoid responsibility. Zhou Enlai was the next to speak. Zhou blamed the Red Army's failures on poor decisions at the leadership level, and blamed himself as one of

10320-540: The evacuation. Since the enemy was close, Zhou, in charge of logistics, made his plans in complete secrecy. It was not disclosed who was to leave or when: even senior leaders were only at the last moments told of the Army's movements. It is not known what criteria were used to determine who would stay and who would go, but 16,000 troops and some of the Communists' most notable commanders at the time (including Xiang Ying , Chen Yi , Tan Zhenlin , and Qu Qiubai ) were left to form

10440-518: The failed leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun was denounced, Mao was not able to win the support of a sufficient number of Party leaders to gain outright power at the conference. A major shift in the Party's leadership occurred two months later, in March 1935. Mao was passed over for the position of General Secretary by Zhang Wentian , but gained enough influence to be elected one of three members of Military Affairs Commission. The other two members were Zhou Enlai, who retained his position as Director of

10560-410: The generals on 2 February, but this only turned the majority of the soldiers against the plan to stand and fight. The Northeastern Army peacefully surrendered to advancing KMT forces and was divided into new units, which were sent to Hebei, Hunan, and Anhui. Yang Hucheng, however, was arrested and eventually executed, while the leaders of the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society defected to the Red Army. Zhang

10680-615: The meeting. Seventeen of the meeting's twenty participants (the exceptions being Bo, Braun, and He Kequan ) argued in his favor. Of the three leaders who had controlled the Party before the Zunyi Conference, only Zhou Enlai's political career survived. Zhou was held partially responsible for the Red Army's defeat, but was retained at the top level of Party leadership because of his differences with Bo and Braun at Ningdu, his successful tactics in defeating Chiang's fourth Encirclement Campaign, and his resolute support of Mao. Although

10800-477: The military commission. Chiang's strategy of slowly constructing a series of interlinking blockhouses (resembling medieval castles) was successful, and Chiang's army was able to capture several major Communist strongholds within months. Between January and March 1934, the Nationalists advanced slowly. Bo and Braun continued to employ orthodox military tactics, resulting in a series of Kuomintang advances and heavy Communist casualties. In October 1934 KMT troops won

10920-443: The northeast, which was a significantly more densely populated area. Many farmers from the region were attracted to Yan'an for the prospect of working more land, as well as the Communists' land and tax reforms. From 1937 to 1939, over 1,500,000 mu of previously unused land was cleared for agriculture. During this time, the large drive for intense rural labor earned its detractors, and was publicly criticized by some for "giving people

11040-437: The otherwise-shattered Communist Party. It marked the beginning of his long ascent to primacy, and would be featured heavily in his public image, through the founding of the People's Republic . The divisions of the Red Army ( Chinese : 中國工農紅軍 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó gōngnóng hóngjūn ; lit. 'Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army') were named according to historical circumstances, not strictly according to

11160-505: The party at the time, Zhou Enlai , originally supported Mao's purges as necessary to eliminate KMT spies. After Zhou arrived in Jiangxi in December 1931, he criticized Mao's campaigns for being directed more against anti-Maoists than legitimate threats to the Party, for the campaign's general senselessness, and for the widespread use of torture to extract confessions. During 1932, following Zhou's efforts to end Mao's ideological persecutions,

11280-499: The party fell from 300,000 to around 40,000. In November 1935, shortly after settling in northern Shaanxi, Mao officially took over Zhou Enlai's leading position in the Red Army. Following a major reshuffling of official roles, Mao became the chairman of the Military Commission, with Zhou and Deng Xiaoping as vice-chairmen. (After Zhang Gutao reached Shaanxi, Deng was replaced by Zhang). This marked Mao's position as

11400-414: The poor. Nevertheless, only some 8,000 troops under Mao's command, the First Front Army, ultimately made it to the final destination of Yan'an in 1935. Of these, less than 7,000 were among the original 100,000 soldiers who had started the march. A variety of factors contributed to the losses including fatigue , hunger and cold, sickness, desertion, and military casualties. During the retreat, membership in

11520-479: The possibility of a united front. They argued that an alliance with Chiang was their best chance to combat the Japanese, while killing him would only provoke retaliation from the Nanjing Government. The Northeastern Army sent a telegram to Nanjing explaining to the Chinese public why they had arrested Chiang and the 8 demands they had for his release. These included an immediate end to civil war against

11640-535: The power to challenge the authority of Zhou and Mao, whose power was based largely on the Party's support. Zhang demanded that one of his own generals, Chen Changhao , take over Zhou's position as political commissar of the entire Red Army, and suggested that Zhang himself replace Zhu De on the Military Commission. Zhang argued that such a reorganization would create a more "equal" army organization. On July 18, Zhou relinquished his position as political commissar, and several leading positions were taken over by generals of

11760-409: The pre-eminent leader of the Party, with Zhou in a position second to Mao. Both Mao and Zhou would retain their positions until their deaths, in 1976. While costly, the Long March gave the CCP the isolation it needed, allowing its army to recuperate and rebuild in the north. It also was vital in helping the CCP to gain a positive reputation among the peasants due to the determination and dedication of

11880-485: The previous year. Like much of China , Yan'an's economy has rapidly developed in the 21st century. Yan'an's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 stood at 166.389 billion RMB , more than ten times its GDP in 2000, which stood at just 13.063 billion RMB. Yan'an recorded a 6.7% increase to GDP in 2019, down from the 8.9% growth recorded in 2018, and below the peak of 19.6% annual GDP growth the city achieved in 2004. The GDP per capita of Yan'an totals 73,703 RMB as of 2019,

12000-548: The principles of Marxism–Leninism , Mao Zedong Thought , and the party's revolutionary tradition. Yan'an is located in northern Shaanxi on the Loess Plateau , with a latitude spanning from 35°21′ to 37°31′ N, and a longitude spanning from 107°41′ to 110°31′ E. The city is bordered by Yulin to the north, Xianyang , Tongchuan , and Weinan in the Guanzhong region to the south, Linfen and Lüliang of Shanxi to

12120-617: The resistance movement in Yan'an. Beginning in 1944, Yan'an played host to the United States Army Observation Group , also known as the Dixie Mission. This group sought to establish relations with Chinese Communist forces, investigate the Communist Party politically and militarily, and determine whether the United States should back Communist forces. Prominent Americans tasked with evaluating

12240-475: The road of the Red Army is their only road to liberation. In addition, policies ordered by Mao for all soldiers to follow, the Eight Points of Attention , instructed the army to treat peasants respectfully and pay fairly for, rather than confiscate, any goods, in spite of the desperate need for food and supplies. This policy won support for the Communists among the rural peasants. Hostilities ceased while

12360-499: The route to take to Yan'an and split up. The First Front Army arrived in Yan'an on 19 October 1935 with about 8,000 survivors, ending the Long March. The Fourth Front Army was largely destroyed by Chiang and Ma clique attacks, and its remnants joined the Second Front Army led by He Long . All three armies met on 22 October 1936. Mao's leadership during the retreat brought him immense prestige and support among many within

12480-613: The second largest city in Guizhou. As Mao had predicted, the city was weakly defended, and was too far from Nationalist forces to be under immediate threat of attack. By the time the Red Army occupied Zunyi, it was highly depleted, and counted little more than 10,000 men. Zhou used the peace afforded in Zunyi to call an enlarged Politburo meeting, in order to examine the causes of the Communists' repeated defeats. The Communists' Zunyi Conference lasted from January 15–17, 1935, and resulted in

12600-457: The surviving participants of the Long March. Mao wrote in 1935: The Long March is a manifesto. It has proclaimed to the world that the Red Army is an army of heroes, while the imperialists and their running dogs, Chiang Kai-shek and his like, are impotent. It has proclaimed their utter failure to encircle, pursue, obstruct and intercept us. The Long March is also a propaganda force. It has announced to some 200 million people in eleven provinces that

12720-421: The three people most responsible. Zhou's willingness to accept responsibility was well received. Zhang Wentian , basing many of his conclusions on recent discussions with Mao, attacked Bo and Braun directly, criticizing them for numerous strategic and tactical errors. After Zhang, Mao gave a speech in which he analyzed the poor tactics and strategies of the two leaders. With Zhou's explicit backing, Mao won over

12840-442: The time and did not expect an attack on their fortified perimeter. The early troop movements were actually a diversion to allow the retreat of more important leaders from Jiangxi. On October 16, 1934, a force of about 130,000 soldiers and civilians under Bo Gu and Otto Braun attacked the line of Kuomintang positions near Yudu. More than 86,000 troops, 11,000 administrative personnel and thousands of civilian porters actually completed

12960-562: The time and got to Yan'an shortly after the take-over. On September 6, 1937, Yan'an became the seat of the communist government of what became known as the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region . It became the center for intensive training of party members and army troops. Thousands of intellectuals traveled to Yan'an from all over the country. From 1937 through 1941, the Communist government organized large-scale migrations to Yan'an, predominantly from Suide to

13080-459: The time it crossed the Xiang River on 1 December had only 36,000 men left. Its leaders, including Comintern military adviser Otto Braun and Moscow-trained Bo Gu , decided to take the troops through Hunan , but Chiang set up defenses to block their way. Mao Zedong , who was not a member of the Politburo , suggested going through Guizhou instead, which was accepted. On New Year's Day 1935,

13200-485: The unexpected death of Sun in March 1925, a power struggle within the KMT led to the shift in the party's authority to Chiang Kai-shek, whose Northern Expedition forces succeeded in wresting control of large areas of China from local warlords and establishing a unified government in Nanjing in April 1927. Unlike other nationalist leaders, like Wang Jingwei , Chiang was opposed to the idea of continued collaboration with

13320-539: The way Zhang's forces were largely destroyed by the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Muslim allies, the Ma clique . The remnants of Zhang's forces later rejoined elements of the Second Red Army before eventually linking up with Mao's forces in Shaanxi. The Second Red Army began its own withdrawal west from Hubei in November 1935, led by He Long , who commanded the KMT Twentieth Army in 1923 before joining

13440-583: Was Luding Bridge , extolled in official history as an heroic triumph, although many historians now believe that the difficulty of the battle was exaggerated or that the incident was fabricated for propaganda purposes. Warlords often refused to help out the Kuomintang against the Communist Red Army, preferring to save their own forces. 300 "Khampa bandits" were enlisted into the Kuomintang's Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of

13560-462: Was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War , occurring between October 1934 and October 1935. About 100,000 troops retreated from the Jiangxi Soviet and other bases to a new headquarters in Yan'an , Shaanxi , traversing some 6,000 miles (10,000 km). About 8,000 troops ultimately survived

13680-497: Was captured by Communist forces. Communist forces on the Long March clashed against Kham rebels in the 1934 Khamba Rebellion , who were fleeing from Tibetan government forces. In June–July 1935, the troops under Mao united with the Fourth Red Army, led by Zhang Guotao, which had retreated west from Henan . Zhang had taken a different route of evacuation, and arrived at Lianghekou with 84,000 troops in relatively good condition. The fact that he had control of superior forces gave him

13800-514: Was established by Chiang's forces, and Jiangxi was besieged in an attempt to destroy the Communist forces trapped within. In July 1934, the leaders of the Party, dominated by the " Twenty-Eight Bolsheviks ", a militant group formed in Moscow by Wang Ming and Bo Gu, forced Mao from the Politburo of the CCP in Ruijin and placed him briefly under house arrest. Mao was replaced by Zhou Enlai as leader of

13920-458: Was kept under house arrest for over 50 years before emigrating to Hawaii in 1993. The rapprochement between the Communists and Nationalists outraged the Japanese, and eventually helped lead to the Second Sino-Japanese War . This in turn hastened the two Chinese factions into formalizing their alliance as the Second United Front . The Xi'an Incident was a turning point for the CCP. Chiang's leadership over political and military affairs in China

14040-569: Was known as "first internal pacification, then external resistance." Chiang launched on a series of encirclement campaigns against the CCP, which forced the Communists onto the Long March and almost destroyed the party. The survivors arrived in Yan'an on 15 October 1935, where they began to establish the Yan'an Soviet . They were besieged by a number of Nationalist armies, including the Northwestern Army under Yang Hucheng and

14160-520: Was obvious to Party leaders that Chiang was intent on intercepting what remained of the Red Army in Hunan, and the direction of the Red Army's movements had to be reconsidered. The plan to rendezvous and join He Long's army in Hunan had become too risky. Mao suggested to Zhou that the Red Army change direction, towards Guizhou, where Mao expected enemy defenses to be weak. A meeting at Tongdao , close to

14280-457: Was overrun by the Japanese, and strongly wished to retake his homeland. He opposed the concessions that Chiang made to Japan in the He–Umezu and Qin–Doihara Agreements . Chiang had slighted Zhang by refusing to let him resume his leadership of the Northeastern Army after a year-long absence. When Chiang did re-appoint Zhang to the post, he ordered him to focus on fighting the Communists rather than

14400-491: Was revoked and established as a prefecture-level city . Yan'an's experienced fast-paced urbanization during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2006–2010). From 2011 to 2015, it underwent a red tourism -oriented beautification project. Xi Jinping visited Yan'an in 2015. During the visit, he emphasized the importance of studying the Communist Party's history in Yan'an and called for a renewed focus on

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