Reflections on Tawo
Leaving Yongshun county town and heading north toward Sangzhi for about 40 kilometers, you are greeted by a lively market town nestled among the mountain ridges. This is Tawo—a place famous throughout the world as a red revolutionary memorial site. From December 10, 1934, to April 12, 1935, the CPC Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Border Provincial Committee and the Provincial Revolutionary Committee were stationed here. In Ding Family Courtyard in Tawo Town, there is a wooden three-sided courtyard compound with an area of more than 1...
Leaving Yongshun county town and heading north toward Sangzhi for about 40 kilometers, you are greeted by a lively market town nestled among the mountain ridges. This is Tawo—a place famous throughout the world as a red revolutionary memorial site.
From December 10, 1934, to April 12, 1935, the CPC Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Border Provincial Committee and the Provincial Revolutionary Committee were stationed here.
In Ding Family Courtyard in Tawo Town, there is a wooden three-sided courtyard compound with an area of more than 1,000 square meters. It was once a place where Ren Bishi, He Long, and others lived. There are also Lei Family Great House, as well as Tianjiawan, Zeng Family Courtyard, Tu Family Great House, and other places, which once housed many subordinate organs and units of the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Border Provincial Revolutionary Committee, the Provincial Military District, the Provincial Security Bureau, the Provincial Supply Department, the Provincial Health Department, and the Provincial Radio Station.
During the period stationed and active in Tawo, the happiest people must have been He Long, Ren Bishi, Xiao Ke, Wang Zhen, and others. Because after the Second and Sixth Army Corps met at Muyang in Guizhou, the two forces joined together and established a new leadership structure. In particular, the Red Third Army escaped the shadow brought by "Left" leadership and the expansion of the purge, which lifted morale and greatly increased the strength of the Red Army. After the two forces were reorganized together, in just over a year they successively won major victories at Shiwanping, Chenjiahe, Taozi Creek, Zhongbao, Bajiaotuo, and Banliyuan. At the same time, they smashed the encirclement and suppression by more than 80 regiments of the Kuomintang, killing, wounding, and capturing more than 18,000 enemy troops, seizing more than 10,000 pieces of various weapons, and also capturing alive the enemy column commander Zhang Zhenhan and killing the enemy division commander Xie Bin. The achievement of these battle results enabled the Second and Sixth Army Corps to smoothly complete the important task of coordinating with the Central Red Army's northward Long March, and for this they also received full affirmation from the leaders of the Party Central Committee.
During this period, the person who felt the most miserable and ashamed should have been Political Department Director Xia Xi. Because in the past he carried out Wang Ming's Leftist line and made serious mistakes in expanding the purge, wrongly killing many innocent Red Army cadres and soldiers. Even the Party and Youth League organizations of the Red Third Army were forcibly disbanded by him. Later, fortunately, the Red Sixth Army Corps led by Ren Bishi arrived. After the Second and Sixth Army Corps joined forces, Xia Xi's mistakes were liquidated and brought to an end, and the Communist Party did not beat Comrade Xia Xi to death with one blow for his mistakes, but continued to let him hold certain positions. Xia Xi also expressed willingness to correct his mistakes and still actively threw himself into work. This man ultimately died in Guizhou. There are several different versions regarding the process of his death.
Ren Bishi and He Long made great contributions in establishing the revolutionary base area at Tawo. When the Second and Sixth Army Corps met, the combined forces numbered only six or seven thousand, but after establishing the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Border Base Area, within more than a year the expanded forces had already reached more than 19,000. When setting out north on the Long March, the Red Second Front Army became one of the three main Red Army forces in the country.
Like Yan'an, Ruijin, and other places, Tawo in Xiangxi should also be called a cradle of the Chinese revolution. Today, red tourism is gradually becoming a trend. If visitors can go to Tawo more often for sightseeing, what they gain will not only be the pleasure of travel and play; even more and more astonishingly, it will surely be a super enjoyment and acquisition of spiritual nourishment!