Shaozhai Red Army Bridge. Yang Daifu/photo

In December 1934, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army entered Liping, Guizhou, and held the first meeting of the Central Political Bureau of the Red Army since the Long March in Qiaojie Street, the ancient city of Liping, known as the "Liping Meeting" in history. The meeting affirmed Mao Zedong's correct proposal to march to Guizhou, and made the decision to establish a base area in the Sichuan Guizhou border area, thus laying the foundation for the success of the Zunyi meeting and opening the prelude to a great historical turning point. After the meeting, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee adopted Mao Zedong's correct opinion of abandoning the original plan of going to western Hunan to join the Second and Sixth Red Army Corps, moving to the hinterland of Guizhou where the Kuomintang army is weak, and going to the north of Guizhou to establish a new base area along the border of Sichuan and Guizhou, realizing the strategic transformation of Liping with great historical significance, It saved and changed the future and destiny of the Party and the Red Army.

On December 19, the Sixth Division of the Third Red Army Corps, the vanguard of the Central Red Army, set out from the north of Liping City and marched into the hinterland of Guizhou. When passing through Gaotun Shaozhai, it saw that the bridge that was the only way to enter Shaozhai was dilapidated. In order to cross the river smoothly and solve the travel problems of local Dong people, the Sixth Division decided to arrange some soldiers to stay in Shaozhai for rest, At the same time, he was responsible for completing the renovation of this wooden bridge across the river in front of Shaozhaizhai Village. At that time, because of the Kuomintang's reactionary propaganda, all the young villagers in Shaozhai and nearby villages who were afraid of being "pulled out of their homes" fled to the mountains to report and hide, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled poor people at home. The Red Army did the mass work from door to door. It publicized to the villagers who stayed in the village that the Red Army was a team of poor people. It publicized the revolutionary principles of fighting local tyrants, distributing farmland, and buying and selling public goods. The Red Army also opened the granaries of landlords and distributed food and property to the poor villagers.

It was cold in winter, and the river was freezing cold. Some of the Red Army officers and men cut down trees and some jumped into the waist deep cold river, piling and fixing the bridge. The villagers of Shaozhai Village saw that the Red Army did not take any money in the cold winter months, but also built bridges for the villagers. They realized that the Red Army was really a team for the poor villagers. So under the organization of local elders, villagers took tools, carried their own boards, wooden beams, etc., braved the cold and jumped into the cold river, and built a wide 1 A new wooden bridge with a length of more than 80 meters and a length of 5 meters. In order to commemorate the Red Army's kindness and righteousness to the people, the villagers of Shaozhai called this bridge "Red Army Bridge" after the Red Army left. So far, in Liping County, these Red Army bridges similar to Shaozhai continue to serve as the transportation channels for villagers' daily life and labor production, and also become the local red culture tourist attractions to attract tourists.

Yinghongqiao

Yinghongqiao, formerly known as "Fengle Bridge", is located at the north end of Haier Avenue, Honghuagang District, Zunyi City. It was built on the 10th day of the first month of the Xianfeng year (1851) in the Qing Dynasty and completed on the 22nd day of the winter of the same year. It was named Fengle Bridge, meaning "people are rich and worship music".

On January 9, 1935, the people of Zunyi set off firecrackers and went straight to Fengle Bridge to meet the Red Army in Zunyi. Mao Zedong, Zhu De and others stepped on the Fengle Bridge amid the earth shaking cheers, shook hands with the crowds who came forward, and walked across the stone bridge side by side.

After the founding of New China, the two sides of the bridge deck will be widened by 2m as sidewalks. In 1966, in order to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the "Zunyi Conference", the standing committee of Zunyi Municipal People's Congress decided to change its name to "Yinghongqiao".

Goose wing bridge

Goose wing battle site is located at the west slope peak of Xiangjiapo, Liujiazhuang, Ganxi Village, Ganxi Township, Shibing County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province.

Goose wing bridge is also called snail bridge because of its shape like a snail. The bridge runs north-south and is a county-level cultural relics protection unit. In the winter of 1949, Gu Zhenglun ordered the 745 Regiment, 249th Division, 49th Corps, 19th Corps of the Kuomintang Army to blow up the "Goose Wing" Bridge and defend it here. In the spring of 1950, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Corps of the 4th Field Army of the People's Liberation Army was repaired. The words "goose wings" are also inscribed on the rock wall at the west side of the southeast Banpo Road, 200m away from the site, and 5m away from the ground. "Xue Yue, Director of Appeasement in Guizhou". This bridge is the first highway overpass bridge in Guizhou Province in the 1920s, and is also one of the earliest overpasses in China. It is of great significance to the history of modern bridges and transportation in China, and is also a historical witness to the modern history of Shibing.  

Source | Guizhou Global Tourism

Text and Picture | Yang Daifu

New Media Editor | Liu Shuang

Second instance | Xie Yuqian

Third instance | Zhao Lin