Overview of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture — Historical Evolution and Social Change (Part 2)
Section 2: Establishment and Consolidation of People's Power. I. The People's Liberation Struggle in Xiangxi. On August 4, 1949, after Hunan Provincial Government Chairman Cheng Qian and KMT First Army Group Commander Chen Mingren staged a peaceful uprising, KMT military and political figures Bai Chongxi, Song Xilian, Gu Zhenglun and others attempted to use Xiangxi as a base for desperate resistance. Song Xilian, Commander of the Hunan-Hubei Border Pacification Command, organized various armed forces in Xiangxi...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 2: Establishment and Consolidation of People's Political Power
I. The Xiangxi People's Liberation Struggle
On August 4, 1949, after Cheng Qian, chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, and Chen Mingren, commander of the Kuomintang First Army Group, peacefully rose in revolt, Kuomintang military and political figures Bai Chongxi, Song Xilian, Gu Zhenglun, and others attempted to rely on Xiangxi to put up a desperate resistance. Song Xilian, commander of the Hunan-Hubei Border Pacification Command, organized various armed forces in Xiangxi into one provisional army and unified the officers, soldiers, and bandits of all counties in Xiangxi into 10 provisional divisions. Bandit leaders in Xiangxi such as Luo Wenjie, Cao Zhenya, Shi Xingzhou, Qu Boping, and Zhang Ping were each appointed division commanders. He also ordered Zhang Shaoxun, commander of the 122nd Army, to guard Dayong (now Yongding District, Zhangjiajie City), and appointed Chen Quchen, director of the Xiangxi Administrative Office, as deputy commander of the Sichuan-Hunan-Hubei Border Pacification Command, in a vain attempt to stop the Chinese People's Liberation Army from advancing into Xiangxi. On September 18, the 112th Division of the 38th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army liberated Yuanling and then advanced into Luxi and Chenxi. The Hunan Military and Political Committee and the 47th Army of the People's Liberation Army stationed in Yuanling successively sent people to persuade Chen Quchen to revolt. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed. On the 11th, Chen issued a general order in the name of the Xiangxi Administrative Office to reassure the people. On the 19th, after the People's Liberation Army's 47th Army launched the Dayong Campaign, captured enemy 122nd Army commander Zhang Shaoxun, annihilated more than 4,300 enemy troops, and liberated Dayong and Sangzhi, it then liberated Yongshun. On November 5, Qiancheng (now Jishou) was peacefully liberated. Within a few days, Yongshui (now Huayuan), Baojing, Longshan, and Fenghuang were successively peacefully liberated. On October 23, Guzhang County was liberated for a time, but after the People's Liberation Army was transferred away, it was occupied again by the bandit Zhang Ping. It was not until March 3, 1950, when Zhang Ping was eliminated, that Guzhang County was liberated again. At this point, all counties in the prefecture were liberated. From then on, the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi stood up and, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, embarked on the broad road of new democracy and socialism, opening up a brand-new era.
II. Establishment of People's Political Power at All Levels
In August 1949, at the same time that Cheng Qian and Chen Mingren announced their uprising, the Hunan Provincial Provisional Government was established, with Chen Mingren as chairman. In late November, Gu Lingshen, director of the Liaison Department of the Political Department of the People's Liberation Army's 49th Army, after talks with Chen Quchen in Qiancheng (now Jishou), determined that Chen would immediately hand over to the Hunan Provincial Government the seals, documents, archives, finances, communications equipment, and weapons of the old Xiangxi Administrative Office, and that Chen's former subordinates Tan Ziping, Xiong Zilin, and others would be responsible for maintaining local order; the already established public security committee would be responsible for preparing grain and fodder to support the People's Liberation Army's advance into the great southwest. Chen Quchen went to Yuanling to assist in bandit suppression work. As counties in Xiangxi were successively liberated along with the victorious clearing of remnant Kuomintang forces, people's governments were also established, with county heads appointed by higher authorities, and local CPC organizations were also established. In the early period of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hunan Province was divided into 10 commissioner administrative districts. The Xiangxi Administrative Office was established in January 1950, with Yan Fusheng as director and Wang Hanfu as deputy director. Its organ was located in Yuanling and governed three administrative offices: Yuanling, Huitong, and Yongshun. The Yuanling Special Office organ was located in Yuanling, with commissioner Xiao Yun; the Yongshun Special Office organ was located in Yongshun, with commissioner Yang Jun. Fenghuang, Qiancheng (now Jishou), Yongshui (now Huayuan), and Luxi Counties in the prefecture belonged to the Yuanling Office, while Yongshun, Baojing, Longshan, Sangzhi, Dayong, and Guzhang Counties belonged to the Yongshun Office. In February of the same year, the offices were changed to administrative commissioner offices. From October 1949 to March 1950, county people's governments and local CPC organizations were successively established in all counties of the prefecture.
After the county party committees and county governments were established, they organized people of all ethnic groups to collect and borrow grain to support the People's Liberation Army's entry into Sichuan. In addition, the work of suppressing bandits and pacifying the people, reducing rent, and opposing local tyrants was heavy, so grassroots political power below the county level could not be established universally in time and was only piloted in key areas. Especially in newly recovered areas, the old baojia system was temporarily used to perform general duties. Baojia heads who performed well were retained, and those with heinous crimes were sent to court. The baojia organizational form was not abolished for the time being, and new personnel were added. At the same time, poor farmers were mobilized to actively organize and establish peasant associations, gradually abolishing the baojia system and exercising the functions and powers of township people's governments on their behalf. In the central districts of all counties, before township political power was established, peasant associations mostly exercised the functions and powers of township political power on their behalf. By the end of 1950, nearly 2,000 peasant associations had been established throughout Xiangxi. The establishment of township people's political power was carried out in counties where land reform had already been completed. The method was to implement the people's representative conference system, with representatives elected by the people, a people's congress convened, and members of the township government committee elected; in counties where land reform had not yet been carried out, the form of peasant representative conferences was temporarily adopted to exercise the functions and powers of people's representative conferences and elect members of township government committees. Below the township level, it did not constitute a level of political power. Farmers' representatives from one natural village or several natural villages elected a representative director, who served as the link and working bond between the township people's government and the representatives and the masses. One to three bao were designated as one township, generally with a standard of 1,000 to 2,000 people. By the end of the year, five counties including Dayong, Sangzhi, and Guzhang had established 105 township political powers.
In 1951, with the deepening development of land reform, peasant associations were rectified and expanded, district and township people's governments were gradually established, and the baojia system was completely abolished. Each district had 10,000 to 40,000 people. On average, each governed 15 townships; the largest district had 33 townships, and the smallest had 6 townships. In places with relatively developed transportation and industry or where county seats were located, county-administered towns were also established. In 1952, the 10 counties of the prefecture were divided into 62 districts, 1,216 townships, and 25 towns. Most township political powers were formally elected through repeated deliberation and full democracy from both bottom to top and top to bottom during the land reform movement. From October 1949 to August 1952, the people's representative conferences of all walks of life in the 10 counties were held at most 7 times and at least 5 times. The conference representatives were broad, including workers, farmers, industrial and commercial circles, intellectuals, democratic personages, professionals, religious figures, students, model workers, representatives of all ethnic groups, family members of martyrs, military personnel and workers, honored demobilized soldiers, and transferred construction soldiers. These conferences played a considerable role in promoting various tasks and discussed and solved the issues most concerned by the people, such as production and overcoming famine, rent reduction and opposing local tyrants, bandit suppression and pacifying the people, resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, and land reform. Through these conferences, the political consciousness of the representatives was raised, and a sense of being masters was gradually established. They developed from "listening to meetings" and "studying" to boldly offering opinions to the government and cadres and putting forward constructive opinions and suggestions on specific work. Carrying out democratic political construction through the form of representative conferences is the best way to represent public opinion. With the establishment and improvement of county, district, and township political power, villages and groups also successively conducted democratic elections according to certain procedures. This was the most grassroots democratic management organization.
III. Bandit Suppression
In the historical records and local chronicles of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture throughout successive dynasties, there were records of terms such as "barbarian bandits," "mountain robbers," "Miao rebels," "sect rebels," and "wicked people." For example, during the Later Jin Dynasty's Battle of Xizhou, the side of Peng Shichou, and the Ming Dynasty's Qin Hou uprising army, were all falsely labeled as "barbarian bandits" and "mountain robbers"; the Qianjia Miao People's Uprising was falsely called "Miao rebels"; the White Lotus Rebellion in Hunan and Hubei during the Jiaqing period was falsely called "sect rebels"; the Peng Gainan uprising in the Jiayin year was falsely called "wicked people." These were slanderous labels used by the feudal ruling class against the resistance struggles of various ethnic peoples. However, the banditry in Xiangxi absolutely does not refer to these resistance struggles of the masses. "Bandits" refers to what Xiangxi folk called "robbers" and "stick-wielding guests," namely those who raided homes, blocked roads to "close in on sheep" (ambush and rob travelers), and made a living by robbery. Such genuine "bandits," "thieves," and "robbers" were rarely seen in historical records before the Ming and Qing dynasties, with only a small number of records at the end of the Qing Dynasty, but bandits had not yet spread everywhere in gangs, and the harm had not yet become a scourge.
In the early years of the Republic of China, warlords fought in chaos, and Xiangxi also experienced frequent warfare. Large quantities of guns and ammunition scattered among the people, and disbanded soldiers and stragglers gathered in the mountains and forests, forming local irregular armed forces under various banners. They occupied various townships and villages, burning, killing, looting, rampaging through the countryside, oppressing the common people, and committing every kind of evil. The Kuomintang government repeatedly sent troops to suppress them, but not only failed to eliminate the bandits, they were often exploited by the bandits, causing their bandit forces to expand repeatedly. In the spring of 1949, due to the power struggle between the Kuomintang's direct-line forces and local power factions, the Yuanling "March 2nd" Incident and the seizure of over ten thousand guns and artillery from the Kuomintang's Chenxi Arsenal further strengthened the bandit forces, and the bandit scourge grew increasingly severe.
In 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army broke through the Yangtze River and advanced southward, unstoppable. The Kuomintang vainly attempted to block the People's Liberation Army's southward advance, using the southwestern corner as a place to linger on, and from April to August, three times incorporated Xiangxi bandits and local armed forces totaling more than 100,000 people (including over 49,000 within the prefecture, with 36,700 long and short guns). They were organized into 3 provisional armies, 12 provisional divisions, and other miscellaneous armed forces, totaling more than 200 bands. The leaders of these bandit bands came from officials, gentry, military, secret agents, and bandits. "Xiangxi's one hundred thousand bandits" actually refers to the sum total of Kuomintang remnant troops, old regime armed forces, feudal separatist armed forces, local armed forces, secret societies, and bandit armed forces in Xiangxi on the eve of liberation. The Kuomintang granted official titles, appointments, and military ranks to various bandit leaders, provided military supplies, intensified bribery, and planted secret agents to control the bandits, attempting to use Xiangxi bandits to establish an "anti-communist guerrilla base." By this time, Xiangxi bandits had colluded with official power and become politically anti-communist bandits. In the counties within the current Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, on the eve of liberation, the bandit forces included Provisional Second Division Commander Zhou Xieqing with 6,200 people and guns, operating in the Qiancheng (now Jishou) and Yongshui (now Huayuan) area; Provisional Fourth Division Commander Luo Wenjie with over 8,000 people and over 2,400 guns, first stationed in Taoyuan and defeated by the People's Liberation Army, then occupying the Yongshun County area; Provisional Fifth Division Commander Wang Yuanhua and Deputy Commander Cao Zhenya with over 9,000 people and 2,500 guns, first stationed in Changde and retreating to Yongshun County after being repelled by the People's Liberation Army; Provisional Ninth Division Commander Zhang Jianchu and Deputy Commander Xu Hanzhang with 2,000 people and guns, operating in Luxi County; Provisional Tenth Division Commander Qu Boping and Deputy Commander Yang Shucheng with over 6,000 people and guns, operating in the northern half of Longshan County and the border area of Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan; Provisional Tenth Division Commander Zhang Ping with over 2,800 people and 1,900 guns, operating in the three counties of Guzhang, Luxi, and Yuanling; Provisional Twelfth Division Commander Shi Xingzhou with over 9,000 people and guns, operating in the southern half of Longshan County; also "Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Anti-Communist National Salvation Army Sixth Column" Commander Xu Yanan with over 1,300 people and guns, operating in Baojing and Luxi counties; "Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Border Region Anti-Communist National Salvation Self-Defense Army" Commander-in-Chief Long Gaoru with over 3,000 people and guns, operating in Fenghuang County.
To save the people of Xiangxi from dire suffering and to consolidate the newly established red regime, the Second and Fourth Field Armies of the People's Liberation Army advanced into Xiangxi in September 1949. The bandits within the region, overawed by the prestige of the People's Liberation Army, by the end of 1949, under the leadership of Chen Quchen's uprising, nearly 7,000 Xiangxi bandits surrendered, and 4,200 irregular armed forces accepted incorporation. But most dispersed into small groups, slipping into remote deep mountains to hide and wait for opportunities. In late November, after the liberation army passed through, the main force of the 47th Army was ordered to enter Sichuan, leaving only the 140th Division and military directly subordinate organs and troops to guard the key routes along the Xiangchuan Highway and important county towns. Seeing the insufficient strength of the People's Liberation Army, the bandits turned from hiding to open activity, from dispersal to concentration, and some who had pretended to surrender also turned coat, revealing their true colors. Various bandits spread rumors and sabotage, collected guns, levied taxes and donations, posted notices, and frantically opposed the new people's regime, besieged county towns, attacked district governments, killed work cadres and mass activists, attacked the People's Liberation Army, and were extremely arrogant. In early January 1950, a platoon of 33 People's Liberation Army soldiers escorting merchant ships was ambushed by over a thousand bandits under Yang Yunfei at Mazhai Yuliang on the border of Qiancheng (now Jishou) and Luxi, 24 soldiers sacrificed, and 48 cargo ships were looted by the bandits. At this time, there were about 30,000 bandits with guns in the region. Eliminating the bandits was imminent.
In October 1949, the Xiangxi Military Region was established, concurrently held by the People's Liberation Army's 47th Army, governing three military sub-regions: Yuanling, Huitong, and Yongshun. The 141st Division concurrently held the Yongshun Military Sub-Region, governing 6 counties: Yongshun, Dayong, Sangzhi, Longshan, Baojing, and Guzhang; the 139th Division concurrently held the Yuanling Military Sub-Region, governing 8 counties: Yuanling, Chenxi, Xupu, Mayang, Luxi, Qiancheng (now Jishou), Fenghuang, and Yongshui (now Huayuan). After completing the task of fighting in Sichuan, the two divisions returned to Hunan one after another in January 1950, throwing themselves into the bandit suppression struggle in Xiangxi. The bandit suppression in Xiangxi can be roughly divided into four stages: spring bandit suppression, central region bandit suppression, edge region bandit suppression, and clearing remnant bandits.
Spring bandit suppression in 1950. In late December 1949, the Party Committee of the 47th Army made the "Decision on the Localization of the Army Party Committee," and together with the Xiangxi Military Region issued the "Political Mobilization Order for Bandit Suppression" and published the "Letter to the Bandits of Xiangxi," requiring all commanders and fighters to firmly establish the idea of "not withdrawing until the Xiangxi bandits are eliminated, not coming down from the mountains," and to carry out vigorous suppression of bandits in all directions. From January 10 to 22, 1950, the 422nd Regiment and 421st Regiment of the 141st Division encircled Longshan's Bamian Mountain and occupied Yanzi Cave. The bandit Provisional 12th Division under Shi Xingzhou and Provisional 10th Division under Qu Boping, with 4,000 bandits, were defeated and dispersed, fleeing in all directions. The spring bandit suppression achieved its first victory. Immediately afterward, the People's Liberation Army encircled and annihilated Guzhang's Lijia Cave, and 2,800 bandits scattered like birds and beasts. They encircled Luxi's Xinglongchang and annihilated over 1,000 bandits under Xu Hanzhang. At the same time, they also suppressed larger bandit bands. By March 1950, the main large bandit bands in Xiangxi had been defeated. But Xiangxi bandits were cunning and treacherous; whenever they encountered a strong enemy offensive, they would burrow into mountains and caves, dispersing and hiding, and whenever there was an opportunity, they would gather again, robbing and destroying. With the militia not yet organized and the masses not yet fully mobilized, the bandit suppression struggle was very difficult.
Central region bandit suppression from April to September 1950. On April 4, 1950, the Xiangxi Military Region decided to temporarily abandon the edge regions, relatively concentrate forces, and carry out zoned, focused suppression of bandits in the central region. At the same time, it implemented the bandit suppression policy of "bandit suppression and mobilizing the masses as the center of all work" and "combining military strikes with political offensives," and strictly implemented the bandit suppression policy of "severe punishment for resistance, leniency for confession, punishment for ringleaders, no questioning of followers, rewards for meritorious service." To mobilize the masses, the 47th Army and the CPC Xiangxi District Committee and the Xiangxi District Administrative Office sent thousands of cadres and commanders and fighters to the countryside, widely publicizing the determination of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Government to thoroughly defeat the bandits, establishing district and township people's governments, and carrying out work such as rent reduction, anti-bullying, and production disaster relief. The people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi, who had suffered greatly from bandit ravages, quickly dispelled their doubts, organized militias and joint defense teams, and mobilized bandit family members to persuade their relatives to come down from the mountains, hand over guns, and surrender. According to statistics, the militia cooperating with the People's Liberation Army in bandit suppression reached over 100,000 people. By September, the central region bandit suppression had achieved phased results. They captured bandit Provisional First Army Commander Chen Zixian, bandit Provisional Second Division Commander Chen Cexun, bandit Provisional Fourth Division Deputy Commander Li Lanchu, as well as Chen Shi, Fu Shaoyi, Yang Yunfei, etc., defeated bandit bands under Cao Zhenya, Cao Zixi, Song Jie, Song Jiazhen, Xu Yanan, Yang Shucheng, Liu Heqing, etc., killed the heinous devil Zhang Ping, and repelled the siege of the edge region's Chadong, Alaoying, Jiwei, etc., by several thousand bandits under Zhou Xieqing, Xu Yanan, Yang Guangpei, Long Yunfei, Wu Tengfang, and Long Zuojin after the outbreak of the Korean War.
The people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi, inspired by the Chinese Communist Party's ethnic policies and moved by the People's Liberation Army's bandit suppression actions, rapidly raised their consciousness and actively threw themselves into the bandit suppression struggle. In July-August, county brigades, district squadrons, and county militia detachments were successively established. The bandit suppression troops repeatedly cleared and searched the central region, conducting dragnet searches and sealing off mountains to check caves. District flying squads were established to pursue and capture fugitive bandit leaders. District and township governments widely mobilized peasant associations, women's organizations, militias, and other organizations to cooperate with the troops in standing guard and sentry duty, and established persuasion groups to urge bandits to surrender. Wang Mingying, director of the Women's Association of Qingshui Township, Baojing County, went into the mountains alone, risking danger to persuade over 80 bandits under Wu Tianwen to surrender, handing over 55 guns; she also persuaded 11 bandit leaders including bandit battalion commander Li Kezi and Shang Guanhai, and over 300 bandits, to hand over 118 long and short guns and over 3,000 rounds of ammunition, and was awarded the title of "Bandit Suppression Model." There were instances in every county of the masses using various forms to capture bandits. The masses' consciousness grew higher and higher, and the bandits had nowhere to hide, so they had to flee to the edge regions.
Edge region bandit suppression from October 1950 to May 1951. Because the five provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi concentrated their forces for central region bandit suppression, between July and August 1950, in the edge region stretching over 400 kilometers from Laifeng in Hubei in the north to Suining in Hunan in the south, bandits gathered in numbers as high as 41,000. In the edge regions, the bandits not only sought military unity but also established reactionary regimes, extremely vicious and audacious. Especially after the U.S. military invaded Korea in June 1950, the bandits in the edge regions became even more rampant, proclaiming they would cooperate with the American and Chiang forces to "first win Xiangxi, second win Hunan, third win the whole country." Eliminating the bandits in the edge regions was urgent.
The first stage of edge region bandit suppression was divided into the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan border region joint suppression and the Hunan-Guizhou-Guangxi border region joint suppression. The commander of the Hunan-Guizhou-Guangxi border region joint suppression was 47th Army Commander Cao Lihuai, and the commander of the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan border region joint suppression was 47th Army Deputy Commander Liu Xianquan. On October 15, 1950, the 141st Division of the 47th Army and 18 battalions totaling over 13,000 people from friendly forces in western Hubei and eastern Sichuan, as well as local cadres and local armed forces, under the unified command of Liu Xianquan, completely surrounded several bandit bands under Qu Boping, Shi Xingzhou, Xu Yanan, Cao Zhenya, etc. The bandits were quickly defeated and dispersed to hide. The local people of all ethnic groups actively assisted the People's Liberation Army in searching mountains and setting up checkpoints, leading the way and delivering messages, and persuading bandits to surrender. Most bandit soldiers handed over their guns and surrendered, registering for rehabilitation. The Hunan-Guizhou-Guangxi border region joint suppression unfolded at the same time. The second stage of edge region bandit suppression was carried out in some counties.
By February 1951, the Xiangxi Military Region had annihilated a total of 92,081 bandits and local reactionary armed forces, captured 78,838 various guns and artillery pieces, and basically cleared the bandit scourge in Xiangxi. In mid-February, the 47th Army victoriously completed its bandit suppression task in Xiangxi and was ordered to leave Xiangxi for Korea to participate in the Korean War. The People's Liberation Army rendered great and meritorious service in eliminating the Xiangxi bandits, and the masses praised them for "accomplishing what even the gods could not do." But the Liberation Army also paid a bloody price for this; the 47th Army alone suffered over 1,300 casualties among its commanders and fighters in Xiangxi.
Clearing remnant bandits. After the 47th Army was transferred away, some bandits who had slipped through the net turned from dispersal to concentration, from hiding to open activity, and gathered in bands in the edge regions. The CPC Xiangxi District Committee and the Party Committee of the Xiangxi Military Region led independent regiments, county brigades, district squads, public security teams, and other local armed forces, as well as party and government cadres, militia organizations, and people of all ethnic groups, to carry out vigorous and diverse struggles to clear remnant bandits. They relied on local armed forces such as independent regiments to annihilate gathered bandit bands; organized military and civilian dragnet mountain searches to capture hidden remnant bandits; established flying squads to pursue fugitive bandits; mobilized the broad masses to expose disguised bandits, leaving bandits with nowhere to hide and forcing them to submit. After nearly two years of arduous and outstanding struggle, they cleared over 20,000 remnant bandit and secret agent armed forces. From then on, the bandit scourge in Xiangxi was completely eradicated.
The eradication of the Xiangxi bandit scourge and the great victory in the bandit suppression struggle completely consolidated the new people's regime and enabled the people of all ethnic groups to achieve thorough political and economic liberation. At the same time, during the bandit suppression struggle, the Chinese Communist Party's principles and policies were initially propagated and implemented in ethnic regions; Han cadres integrated into the masses of all ethnic groups and became their most loyal friends and guides; the people of all ethnic groups abandoned past grievances, enhanced understanding and friendship, and presented an unprecedented new situation of ethnic unity and harmony, laying a solid foundation for carrying out various social reforms and building a democratic, prosperous, and happy new Xiangxi.