Eighth Route Army 129th Division Headquarters Site 八路军一二九师司令部旧址

About Eighth Route Army 129th Division Headquarters Site

The Eighth Route Army 129th Division Headquarters Site (八路军一二九师司令部旧址) is the wartime command post of the 129th Division, kept in the village of Chi'an (赤岸村) under Henandian town (河南店镇), part of Shexian (涉县) county in Handan (邯郸), Hebei. Another name for it is the Liu–Deng Army Headquarters Site (刘邓大军司令部旧址), after Liu Bocheng (刘伯承) and Deng Xiaoping (邓小平).

During the war against Japan and the civil war that followed, Handan was the capital of the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu Border Region (晋冀鲁豫边区) and the seat of the 129th Division's headquarters and of the region's party, government and army leadership. Chinese Wikipedia links the headquarters with the creation of the border region's anti-Japanese base during the war and notes that it is also called the birthplace of the Communist Party's "second generation of leaders". The State Council placed the headquarters, dated to 1940, in its fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units in November 1996. Handan also lists it as a national 4A scenic area and a national classic red-tourism site.

The site covers 340 mu (about 23 hectares) and brings together the headquarters, the 129th Division exhibition hall (陈列馆) and Jiangjun Ridge. The headquarters is made up of three courtyard houses in the northern style, keeping the rooms where Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping lived and worked; in the lower courtyard grow redbud trees planted by Liu, Deng and Li Da (李达). The two leaders' residences, known as the 129 family compound, carry a plaque, "Former Residence of Liu and Deng", written by General Liu Huaqing (刘华清), and Deng's daughters Deng Lin (邓琳) and Deng Nan (邓楠) were born there. Five south rooms that once held the headquarters' operations office were later turned into a gallery of Taihang woodcut prints.

Jiangjun Ridge (将军岭), on the upper reaches of the Zhang River (漳河), north of the village, was called Miaopo Ridge (庙坡岭) until the ashes of former division leaders, among them Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, Huang Zhen (黄镇), Li Da and Wang Xinting (王新亭), were scattered on it from 1986. Deng Xiaoping wrote its new name in October 1990. The number 129 recurs on the climb: 129 stone steps lead to the Marshal Liu Bocheng Memorial Pavilion, with a seated granite figure of Liu, a further 129 to Xu Xiangqian's memorial pavilion, and 129 more to the top. From the steps the 27 km Zhangnan Canal (漳南大渠) can be seen winding round the hills; division soldiers and local people dug it during the war against Japan, and a 12.9 m monument stands beside it.

What to look for

• The three northern-style courtyards of the headquarters, with the living and working rooms of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping
• Redbud trees in the lower courtyard planted by Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping and Li Da
• The five south rooms of the former operations office, later made into a gallery of Taihang woodcut prints
• The 129th Division exhibition hall (陈列馆)
• Jiangjun Ridge (将军岭), with 129-step flights to the memorial pavilions of Marshals Liu Bocheng and Xu Xiangqian
• The wartime Zhangnan Canal (漳南大渠), seen from the ridge steps, and its 12.9 m monument

Location & getting there

Getting to Eighth Route Army 129th Division Headquarters Site

• Search for 八路军一二九师司令部旧址 with 邯郸市 and 涉县.