During the golden week holiday, we nine colleagues had a single-day tour to two scenic spots, one was the Xi Bai Po(west hill with cypresses) revolutionary site of the Communist Party of China; the other was Tian Gui Mountain(Mt. heaven laurel). Both of the two spots are located in Pingshan county, and they are nearly 40km of mountainous road away from each other. We hit the ground at 6:00 AM. The wagon was big enough for the contingent, and the driver was the most experienced one in our unit. After more than one hour's highway drive, we threw our provincial capital city behind, and wheeled into the territory of Pingshan county.
Pingshan county is situated in the Taihang mountainous district, bordering Shanxi province. Once getting on the mountainy road, our wagon was slowed down by a lot. There seemed not to be many vehicles on the road that day, so we could fully enjoy a sunday drive without being scolded as road hogs by other drivers. Looking out of the windows, we saw rolling ridges in the far, which were looking like a procession of colossi travelling backwards slowly. Along the road, we sometimes saw bush-covered hills, dotted with wild flowers; sometimes grass-covered slopes, with a few cottages scattered here and there; a patch of crops between mountains; big valleys. It seemed we were watching a picturesque slide show through the window.
After one and a half hours' appreciation of the roadside landscape, we finally got to Xi Bai Po. It was nearly 9:00 AM, the sun was shining. Visitors were checking in in groups. This spot included three theme points, the first one was the Revolutionary History Museum, the second one was the Stone Inscription Garden, the third one was the Old Dwelling Place of the former leaders of the Communist Party of China.
We first came to the Museum, which was a three-storey building based on a hill, it must have cost much more work to build such a building than it would have to build it on even ground. In front of the Museum was a big stone plinth, on which stood five statues all in real person's figure, they were Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping. Around the foot of the plinth was a large flower-pieced-up blanket, on which eight big Chinese characters, "与时俱进 开拓创新"(advance with the times, explore and innovate), were lined up with small chrysanthemums. We took a picture together here, with the five great men as our background, and with this we kicked off our first leg tour.
Entered the Museum, we first came into a big hall, which was very clean and bright. On the wall opposite to the door, was a large sculpture, which was 5 metres in height and more than 10 metres in breadth, featuring 70 figures who all were the members of the second plenary session of the seventh Communist Party Committee. Against the left side wall was set a finger-touch-screen introduction machine, through which you could learn relative informations electronically. We spent 50 Yuan hiring a girl interpreter. All the workers here were in military uniforms. The interpreter showed us around nine exhibition halls. In the first hall, a collection of black-and-white photos were on display, which recorded the history of Xi Bai Po. In 1947, the Communist Party led by chairman Mao, set out from their original revolutionary base---Yan'an, warding off Guo Min Dang force's besieging, chasing, blockading and interception, travelling around and around, and finally entered this mountainous region, and settled down in Xi Bai Po. The geography of Xi Bai Po was very complicated, it was very easy to defend, just as the Chinese saying goes, one man's defence in stronghold can't be broken through by ten thousand men's attacks, so this place could be a natural stronghold. The Communist Party were warmly welcome by the local people, they donated grain, cattles and many other stuffs, many young people enlisted the army voluntarily. With the support of the local people, the Communist Party began to rally and became stronger. They convened the second plenary session of the seventh Communist party committee, in which the overall condition of the proletariat revolution across the country was analyzed, the earliest Land Law and Marriage Law were promulgated. With the army becoming stronger here, time was considered mature to attack out, then they launched the Shijiazhuang campaign. After fierce battles, they liberated Shijiazhuang, which was the first city they had ever seized from the enemies. Later on, the three big decisive campaigns were masterminded and commanded by those leaders. What was noticeable was that doctor Bethune had stayed in Xi Bai Po for two months, training Chinese doctors medical techniques, later he went to the Jin Cha Ji front line, working side by side with Chinese military doctors. To memorialize this great international Communist warrior, after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, a hospital named Bethune International Hospital was built. (to be continued)
