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(Originally published in Yanzhao Metropolitan Daily, 19 November 2002; Author: Cai Xiaohui)
The chill has already set in by early November. Business is usually slack at tourist sites in northern China at this time of the year. However, Xibaipo, which gained fame in the late 1940s, was still bustling with traffic and fascinated tourists in this the second November of the new millennium.
Xibaipo is not a mere scenic site for tourists. Its charm comes from the red spirit associated with it in the 1940s. It was here that Mao Tse-tung remarked: “The comrades must be taught to remain modest, sensible, and free from arrogance and rashness in their style of work. Comrades must be taught to sustain the style of plain living and hard struggle.” This was what has come to be known as "the Xibaipo Spirit."
Perhaps “the Xibaipo Spirit” is not a static ‘red’ that only belonged to the 1940s. Presently, hanging at the entrance to the Xibaipo Museum is a banner with the words “Promoting the Xibaipo Spirit and Practicing the ‘Three Represents’ Theory.” Everyone maintains a respectful silence as they pass under it. Xibaipo has ceased to be a mere geographic signpost; rather it has become a revered place of the Chinese Revolution and represents an ideal.
Months of Fervor
From May 1948 to March 1949, the Central Working Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Central Committee of the CPC and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) headquarters were stationed here, for no more than 10 months. However, these ten months were the last phase of the War of Liberation, a period when "enemy troops perished in a short time”, a crucial moment out of which ‘emerged a new China’.”
In May 1947, the Central Working Committee of the CPC led by Liu Shao-chi, Chu Teh and Dong Biwu became the first to visit Xibaipo village. They rented houses from 13 villagers at the eastern end of the village. Soon afterwards, a series of historical events were initiated in these ordinary bungalows. Chou En-lai wrote an inscription for Xibaipo in February 1973, which says: “Xibaipo was the last headquarters in the countryside for Chairman Mao and the Party's Central Committee before they entered Beiping (Beijing) and liberated the whole country; it was here that the three great campaigns were conducted and the 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of CPC was held.” It is hard to imagine that such earth-shaking decisions and strategies assuring victory were devised in these so commonplace bungalows.
There is a tableau of waxworks entitled “the Village without Night” at the Xibaipo Museum. It depicts a brightly lit late-night bungalow under snowflakes. Inside the house Mao Tse-tung and some other leaders are seen looking over an operations map, some seated while others stand. Outside a soldier with a telegram in his hand is about to come in with a dispatch. In spite of the intervening decades, the warm and animated atmosphere within the house nestled in this silent village is still palpable enough to deeply move visitors to the museum.
At Mao Tse-tung's former residence, the guide pointed to the oil lamp on the desk. In those days a yellowish flame often flickered in this greasy lamp throughout the night. One can imagine Mao Tse-tung's countenance as he was holds this lamp, examining the military map. The light from this lamp brightened this land of 9.6 million sq km, as those nights propelled a history going through stormy dramatic changes. The same happened in the other bungalows in this museum area as well. "The lighting of a lamp inside the house ensures tens of thousands of trees outside bear fruit." This saying is well known in Xibaipo.
The style of hard work and plain living that the CPC took on during the Yan'an years was maintained at Xibaipo. Seeing his wife working with a spinning wheel, Dong Biwu composed a poem, “One hand turns the wheel, the other twists the spun threads; it looks easy, but is hard in the doing.” The articles for daily and office use by those great personages in these bungalows were very simple and plain, often just a bed, a desk, a chair, a cabinet, and a bookshelf. There is a worn-out blanket, a product of the Yan'an great production movement, in Ren Bishi's bedroom. In Liu Shao-chi's former residence there is the white wooden case that accompanied him for many years. And the famous 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee of CPC was held in the big kitchen built by the Central Working Committee itself. The fact that those great historical chapters were promulgated with such simple and elementary tools cannot fail but provide much food for thought. Huang Wei, the commander of the Kuomingtang's 12th Corps captured during Huai-Hai Campaign, came to visit Xibaipo after being granted a special pardon. On seeing the bungalow that was once the headquarters for conducting those great decisive campaigns, he exclaimed, “The Kuomingtang could not but fail. It could not but fail.”
The site of the CPC Central Committee's office at Xibaipo was proclaimed a national key historic site for preservation by the State Council in 1982. The guides at Xibaipo will tell you that “although it does not have such priceless artifacts as those in the Forbidden City, nor the grand clay figures of warriors and horses of Lintong, the spiritual power it personifies makes it great.”
The ‘Red' Calling
The ‘red spirit' of Xibaipo has become even more fascinating these days. Since the 1990s, the Xibaipo Museum has been expanded. As its fame extends further, Xibaipo has attracted more and more tourists. Visitors to Xibaipo during the 1980s averaged only 30,000 to 40,000 annually, most of them were from areas surrounding Shijiazhuang (the capital of Hebei province). Last year the number of visitors capped almost one million, coming as they did from all parts of the country. Xibaipo received ten to twenty thousand tourists daily during the days around July 1st last year. On November 8th this year when the Party's 16th Congress inaugurated, Xibaipo welcomed over 5,000 visitors.
"Whenever there is an important political event in our country, Xibaipo teems with people,” remarked Bei Yuanda, secretary of the Party Committee at the Xibaipo Museum. Bei Yuanda is an old Xibaipo resident, who has been working at the Museum since it was founded and has witnessed many years of history in Xibaipo.
Why do people come to Xibaipo? They come, according to Bei Yuanda, mainly for receiving education in revolutionary history: each year many people come to take an oath on being admitted to the Party, or review their oath on being admitted to the Party, or receive ideological education. There is a CPC Party flag on the wall of the room where the 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee was held, and this place is always the most crowded on this site around July 1st every year. Seeing their clenched fists and solemn countenance, whoever would doubt that they represent the torch of the faith handed down generations after generations during the past decades?
The faith persists. The path for a new China began in Jinggang Mountains and had a turning point at Zunyi; it extended through the 25,000-li Long March and the 8-year War of Resistance against Japan. When it reached Xibaipo, the dawn of New China was within sight. Over the past decades, words such as "ideal' and "serving the people" have never lost their appeal.
The allure of Xibaipo comes also from its flesh-and-blood ties with the masses. People of the older generation can all tell some stories about the leaders. Chu Teh, for instance, helped local villagers many times with their farm work during the planting and harvesting. He also compensated a villager for the loss of a duck. In the early autumn of 1948, Cao Qingwei, a young military barber, was buried in a flooded and collapsed cave dwelling and lost his life. Chu Teh appeared at the funeral procession: to carry the coffin with heavy steps and a sad countenance. The General Commander who commanded tens of thousands of troops thus seen carrying the coffin for an ordinary soldier! Sincere Xibaipo villagers were moved to exclaim, "The Communists are for us!" Innumerable trickles of support gathered into a strong current, becoming the source of an enduring vitality for a governing party.
Every visitor to Xibaipo imparts some reflections. A retired worker from Anping, Hebei province, wrote in the visitors' book, "Let Xibaipo be the hometown of the people's dreams for ever." A Mr. Dong from Xi'an wrote a poem in the visitors' book, "The great men have departed, but their spirit remains and the red land shall last forever; the torch of faith lights up our hearts, illuminating the paths of the past, the present and the future."
Such is the legacy. Xibaipo is listed as a national secondary and primary school patriotic education base, a Hebei provincial patriotic education base, a base for social practice for Shantou University, an educational base for Party history for young Motorola (China) Electronics employees, an ideological educational base for central governmental institutions, and a revolutionary educational base for the No.1 Middle School of Shijiazhuang. Xibaipo is presently regarded as an educational base for over 80 units within and outside of the province. It was in more recent years, the guide said, that many of these units made this move. After decades of the revolution, a psychological need for revolutionary ideological education recently has spontaneously developed. Reflecting on the past in light of the present stimulates people's patriotic passions.
How may we best be patriotic? A visitor from Fushun Steel and Iron Corporation replies thus," Work hard, love life, and create the future."
'Red' Blood Vessels
In terms of the 'red' legacy of Xibaipo, what is mentioned most often is Mao Tse-tung's "two musts" and "going to the capital to take the imperial examinations," as well as the PLA commanders' capable leadership and heroic spirit. The Party remained sober in the face of imminent victory. Whether it could still keep a cool head in embracing the victory afterwards would be another severe test. Mao Tse-tung remarked at the 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee, "To win countrywide victory is only the first step in a long march of ten thousand li." "The Chinese revolution is great, but the road after the revolution will be longer, the work greater and more arduous. This must be made clear now in the Party. The comrades must be taught to remain modest, sensible, and free from arrogance and rashness in their style of work. The comrades must be taught to maintain the style of plain living and hard struggle." Acting on Mao's proposal, the conference made these resolutions: first, no birthday felicitations; second, no gift giving; third, less toasting; fourth, less applause; fifth, no using people's names for place names; and sixth, no placing Chinese comrade(s) on par with Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. On the eve of victory, Mao Tse-tung demonstrated his acute insight as a statesman. “We Communists enter Beijing to continue the revolution and build socialism until the realization of communism,” he said.
On 23 March 1949, Mao Tse-tung and his comrades-in-arms ascended Baipo Ridge one last time, accompanied by a gentle spring breeze and bright sunlight. His heart brimming with excitement, Mao said passionately, “Let us go to the capital to take the imperial examinations.”
As Chou En-lai then remarked: “We shall all pass the examinations.” Having withstood a number of tests, the CPC is still full of vitality. In September 1991, the CPC General-Secretary Jiang Zemin came to these former residences of simple bungalows. At the site of the 2nd Plenary Session of the 7th Central Committee, after some thought, he wrote an inscription: “Remember the ‘two musts’ and build socialism with Chinese characteristics.” This remark was inscribed on the southern front of the Xibaipo Monument erected in 1993.
Now our production abounds, our spirits are high, and our goals clear. This is a new phenomenon brought about by the drive to reform and open to the outside world. Although there is corruption, earnest efforts have been made to punish perpetrators. Deng Xiaoping once sharply pointed out, “If we don't punish those responsible for corruption, especially corruption within the Party, there is a real danger of failure.” Self-rejuvenation has always been a severe test for every governing party.
Over the decades, the Xibaipo Spirit has become more distinct and appealing. People come to Xibaipo to visit the old buildings and artifacts and take in its atmosphere. This is not mere tourism but a kind of spiritual return. Thirty-four cadres of the Local Tax Bureau of the Hejian Municipality wrote in the visitors' book on 15 May 2001: “We have received a Xibaipo baptism and shall carry out the ‘three represents’ theory.”
Everyone who has experienced the silent power incarnate in this site will believe that such words in the visitors' book are not just empty slogans but sincere expressions of true emotion.
The Xibaipo Museum Party Secretary, Bai Yuanda, who has been working here for decades, is happy to see the increased flocking of tourists to Xibaipo. It is as if he feels again the power that was once so familiar. The history of decades past has become pictures and letters to the people of today. However, on seeing the expression on visitors' faces, Bai Yuanda believes that the ‘red spirit’ is still quietly circulating in the blood vessels.
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