PLACE GUIDE

Shazhou Village 沙洲村

Shazhou Cun

Shazhou (沙洲村) is a Yao village in Wenming Yao Ethnic Township, Rucheng County, in Chenzhou, Hunan. It is where three women soldiers of the Red Army cut their only quilt in half for a villager in November 1934, and the village now holds a memorial complex built around that episode.

Shazhou Village (沙洲村)
Shazhou Village · 沙洲村 · Source photographer · License not provided
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About Shazhou Village

In early November 1934, after breaking through the second Nationalist blockade line, the Central Red Army halted at Wenmingsi, the place now called Wenming Yao Ethnic Township, and a cadre regiment of the army's medical department was billeted in Shazhou. Three women soldiers lodged in the house of a villager named Xu Jiexiu. When they left they cut their single quilt in two and left half of it behind. The story stayed local until November 1984, when the Economic Daily journalist Luo Kaifu, retracing the Long March route, heard Xu Jiexiu tell it.

The village today is organised around the 'Warmth of Half a Quilt' thematic exhibition hall, which is not one building but a group: a two-storey gallery, the house where the episode happened, and former premises of the Red Army's general headquarters, political, logistics and medical departments and garrison command. The gallery follows the Long March's passage through Rucheng using 213 photographs, 28 groups of artefact material and 22 bronze figures. Separate commemorative structures stand in and around the village.

What to look for

  • The former residence of Xu Jiexiu, dated to 1720, a two-storey brick-and-timber house three bays wide described as typical southern Hunan vernacular building
  • The two-storey thematic gallery, with its 213 photographs, 28 groups of artefact material and 22 bronze figures covering the Red Army's passage through Rucheng
  • The former offices of the Red Army's general headquarters, political, logistics and medical departments and garrison command, the last of which also housed the Chinese Soviet National Bank
  • The folk-customs square, where a sculpture depicts the half-quilt episode
  • The Xibie Pavilion and the Wangjun Bridge, commemorative structures associated with the story

Location & getting there

Getting to Shazhou Village

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

  • Search for 沙洲村 with 郴州市 and 汝城县.
General visit reminders

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

Historic towns & villages · 古镇古村/民族聚落 →

Find Shazhou Village

沙洲村 · 汝城县

No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.

Sources & visit information

The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.