A Brief History of the Tujia: Anti-Imperialist and Anti-Feudal Struggles Under CPC Influence and Leadership (Part 1)
Section 2: Anti-Imperialist and Anti-Feudal Struggles Under CPC Influence and Leadership — After the May Fourth Movement, Tujia resistance included both spontaneous protests against heavy taxes and anti-imperialist, anti-feudal struggles under direct CPC leadership.
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Section 2: The Anti-Imperialist and Anti-Feudal Struggles of the Tujia People Under the Influence and Leadership of the Communist Party of China
After the May Fourth Movement, the resistance struggles of the people in the Tujia areas included both spontaneous struggles mainly against exorbitant taxes and levies, and anti-imperialist and anti-feudal struggles under the direct leadership of the Communist Party of China. As the activities of the Communist Party of China in this region intensified, the spontaneous resistance of the masses gradually became conscious struggle under the leadership and influence of the Party.
I. Spontaneous Resistance Struggles of the Tujia People
In Laifeng, Hefeng, Badong, Wufeng, Changyang, Enshi, Xianfeng and other counties, many armed peasant forces appeared one after another, known as "Shenbing" (Divine Soldiers). The vast majority of those who joined the "Shenbing" were poor Tujia and Han peasants. They were "organized to oppose warlords and oppose exorbitant taxes and levies." The "Shenbing" had strict discipline: they did not covet wealth or treasures, and did not commit lewd or evil acts; in normal times they farmed, and when trouble arose they beat gongs and drums to gather and prepare for battle. In battle, they tied red cloth to their spears and sabers, wrapped red turbans around their heads, and specifically opposed warlords and landlords. However, the "Shenbing" had a strong superstitious flavor, using incantations—"wearing iron helmet and iron armor, stepping in iron boots and iron socks, wearing an iron dragon hat, body like an iron pagoda"—to raise morale and fighting power, believing that by silently reciting the incantations they could become invulnerable to sword and spear. A small number of "Shenbing" organizations, due to infiltration by landlords and ruffians who usurped leadership, became tools of the landlord class that harmed the people.
The "Shenbing" frequently attacked warlord troops and assaulted landlord militia. In 1920, the Xiangxi warlord Zhang Xueji led his troops to aid Sichuan; when passing through Zhongbalong in Laifeng County, the "Shenbing" of Laifeng County caught them off guard, launched a sudden attack, killed Zhang Xueji, annihilated most of his troops, and the remnants fled in disorder.
In the summer of 1921, the Mashui area of Hefeng County suffered a severe flood, and the people's lives were extremely difficult. Huang Wending of Hongyanping led more than 30 poor peasants, rushed into the homes of landlords such as Tian Yishou, opened the granaries, carried away grain (known among the people as the "Backbasket Society"), and distributed it to poor peasants to tide them over the famine. The landlords threatened to file a lawsuit; Huang Wending, upright and confident, defying life and death, ran ahead to the county yamen, openly admitted that he had carried away the grain, and said: "Bind me or kill me, as you please." The county magistrate, seeing the righteous anger of the disaster victims and fearing it would trigger a peasant uprising, did not dare to accept the case. In the summer of 1924, poor peasant Liu Hanqing of Qiaoyun in that county led more than 60 people to the homes of landlords in Xiangxiping, Dawuliping and other places, and carried away more than 10 dan of corn. In Meiping, Wuliping and other places, many incidents of disaster victims seizing grain occurred one after another.
In the border area of Badong, Jianshi and Hefeng counties, at Wuyang Pass, the Tujia father and son Chen Lianzhen and Chen Zongyu were always upright, helping the weak and restraining the strong, and fond of fighting injustice. They had successively killed soldiers who robbed their family property and the district brigade commander of Jianshi County who bullied others by force and attempted to seize a young woman, and were therefore hated by landlords and local tyrants. The latter threatened to "wipe out Wuyang and exterminate the Chen family." Driven to desperation, the Chen father and son organized the "Shenbing" in early 1926, putting forward the slogan "Resist taxes and grain levies, resist corvée and conscription; share blessings and share hardships," directing the spearhead of struggle straight at the reactionary rule of warlords and the oppression of landlords and local tyrants. The righteous deeds of the Chen father and son won the response and support of the poor Tujia and Han peasants around Wuyang Pass, and in a very short time more than a hundred people joined the "Shenbing" organization. The Chen father and son led the "Shenbing" in attacks on all sides, fighting bravely, successively defeating the militia of Jianshi, Hefeng, Wufeng and other counties, and killing the district chief of Guandian in Jianshi County.
However, because there was no leadership by the Communist Party at that time, these spontaneous peasant struggle organizations were scattered, had relatively little contact with one another, their struggle goals and targets were extremely limited, and they were easily defeated one by one by landlord armed forces, and were even sometimes used by landlords and local tyrants.