Yaan Tourism

With a long-standing history and rich culture, Yaan has been under the jurisdiction of the central government since the Pre-Qin Period and boasts a profound Han cultural background. In modern times, Yaan has even impressed one as the Tragic Place for King Yi and the Victory Battle Field of the Red Army. In order to resist against Japanese aggression, the two main forces of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the First Front Army and the Fourth Front Army, passed through Yaan in the Long March and waged revolutionary struggles in Yaan for as long as six months from May to November 1935. During the Long March, eight of the Ten PLA Marshals (conferred in 1955) had been to Yaan, and seven of the Ten PLA Grand Generals (conferred in 1955) had fought in Yaan. On May 24, 1935, the Central Red Army arrived at Anshunchang, Shimian County. It took more than a month to march through Shimian, Hanyuan, Yingjing, Tianquan, Lushan and Baoxing counties, and finally met with the Fourth Front Red Army at Dawei after crossing Jiajin Mountain on June 27. The Fourth Front Army crossed Jiajin Mountain on October 27, 1935 and moved to the south to Yaan, and crossed Jiajin Mountain again on February 24, 1936 and moved to the north; it has stayed for four months here. During the march of crossing the Dadu River to Jiajin Mountain, the Central Red Army went through such battles as the Yi-Hai Alliance, the Feint on the Dashubao, the Night Attack on Anshunchang, the Forced Crossing of the Dadu River, the Fierce Battle at Pusagang, the Swift Capture of the Luding Bridge, the Surprise Attack on Tianquan, the Disguised Attack on Lushan, the Capture of Baoxing and the Crossing of Jiajin Mountain. After the Fourth Front Army moved south from Jiajin Mountain, it went through the battle of encircling Yaan and the battle of Baizhangguan, and actively carried out local works that established the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the Sichuan Province Soviet Government in Lushan County; in Yaan, six counties have been established with the CPC county committees and Soviet governments at the levels of county, sub-county, township and village. In that year, the Red Army had established 1 province Soviet regime, 6 county Soviet regimes, 20 sub-county Soviet regimes, 78 township soviet regimes and 324 village Soviet regimes in Yaan. It had mobilized the masses extensively, set up mass organizations, carried out land revolution movements, expanded the Red Army, established Red Army universities and party schools of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, and also established revolutionary mass organizations such as peasant associations, Young Pioneers, Children's Leagues and women's organizations. Furthermore, it had led the masses to resist against the banditry, hegemony and counter-revolution, and attacked local tyrants to divide the wealth and fields. Such series of revolutionary movements had dealt a heavy blow to the reactionary forces of the Kuomintang warlords, shaken the feudal rule of the landlord class, and laid a mass foundation for the subsequent revolutionary struggles. At present, 8 counties (districts) of Ya’an are all named the Old Revolutionary Base Areas.