New ‘red’ tourism site honors story of Peng and CMC
A NEW “red” revolutionary site in Jing’an District will open to visitors today for a trial operation, with an inaugural exhibition.
The site, at No. 12 Lane 613 Xinzha Road was built in 1919 as a brick and wood shikumenstyle house.
By the end of 1928, Bai Xin, secretary of early Communist Party of China leader Peng Pai, was asked to rent the house as a major meeting place for the Central Military Commission. However, Bai bore a grudge against Peng for having shot dead a deserter who was Bai’s relative. So, he betrayed Peng and tipped off the then Kuomintang government about a secret meeting on August 24, 1929.
Armed police and soldiers broke into the house and arrested Peng and four others — Yang Yin, Yan Changyi, Xing Shizhen and Zhang Jichun.
Late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai organized a failed rescue attempt. Six days later, apart for Zhang, they were executed in prison at Longhua in Shanghai.
On November 11, 1929, the CPC’s intelligence agency assassinated Bai.
The location of the site was long secret. In 1959, the CPC sent officials to question residents in the neighborhood and finally confirmed that No. 12 was the site.
Today, the meeting room where the revolutionaries were arrested has been restored as it was in August 1929. Black-brick walls with red-brick lintels and interior structures such as the kitchen, garret and living room have also been restored.
The CMC was established in October 1925 in Shanghai. In January 1933, it moved its office to the revolutionary base in Jiangxi Province.
The exhibition not only tells the stories of what happened on the site, but also details the commission’s years in Shanghai.
Officials visited sites across China, including Beijing, Wuhan and Taiwan, and to countries including Russia and the Netherlands to seek historical documents, photos and items.
Precious exhibits on display include a letter written by Peng and Yang to Zhou when they were imprisoned at Longhua, the duo’s graduate certificates from military school and their honorary medals awarded in 2009 by the country.
They also include confidential documents revealing the military strategy during wartime, and articles published by former Soviet Union’s newspaper Pravda about CPC movements in Shanghai
According to Jing’an Cultural and Tourism Bureau, the site will be become a memorial and a museum for the CMC.
Jing’an has many “red” sites, including former sites of CPC conferences and headquarters, former residences of CPC leaders and sites witness to wars and labor movements.
In October this year, the memorial of the National Labor Union Secretariat on Chengdu Road N. reopened after a year’s renovation. Two more adjacent buildings were incorporated to provide more exhibition space.