Located at the foot of the Luomeng Mountain, Xianxi Town of Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, Tongdao Red Army Long March Transfer Memorial Hall consists of a themed exhibition hall, memorial plaza, Gongcheng Academy, Baoqing Guild Hall (the residential place of Mao Zedong, Wang Jiaxiang and Zhang Wentian in 1934), the old site of the General Political Department of the Red Army, the Red Army Street, the Red Army embankment and the Red Army pontoon bridge. The memorial hall covers an area of 300 mu (200,000 square meters), of which the display area takes an area of 4,000 square meters.

The Gongcheng Academy, the site of the Tongdao Meeting, formerly known as Luomeng Academy, was originally built in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and was later destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by Dong craftsmen at the original site during the Qianlong period (1736-1796) of Qing Dynasty and renamed as Gongcheng Academy, which is the most preserved ancient school of Dong ethnic group in China. Covering an area of 2,830 square meters, the academy consists of a gatehouse, residential houses, a lecture hall and corridors linking the various parts. On December 12, 1934, the main leaders of the Communist Party of China held an emergency meeting at Gongcheng Academy to discuss the direction of the Red Army. The meeting finally took Mao Zedong’s suggestion that instead of marching farther into Hunan, the force should change direction and head toward Guizhou, where the enemy’s defenses were expected to be weak. The strategic transfer that had saved the lives of over 30,000 Red Army soldiers and the Chinese revolution was called the strategic “Transfer in Tongdao” in the history. In September 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping during his visit to Hunan highlighted the significance of this historic event.

The memorial features the exhibition of historical facts of “Transfer in Tongdao”, which covers an area of over 2,000 square meters, adopts the hi-tech methods with acoustics, optics, and electricity and showcases over 200 cultural relics, 310 historical photographs and 150 historical records across three sections: the Red Army arrives at Tongdao, the Red Army stations at Tongdao, and heroes of the time.

The memorial has been designated as a national patriotism education demonstration base, national “red tourism” classic scenic spot, one of the 30 national boutique routes for red tourism and of the 100 boutique routes for red tourism in welcoming the centenary of the founding of the Party, national AAAA-level tourism scenic spot, national key cultural relics protection unit, national second-grade museum, patriotism education base of Hunan Province, and Hunan education base for the Party spirit and ethics. In the past three years, it has received more than 4 million domestic and foreign tourists and trainees of study tours, and is an important platform for carrying out patriotic education, revolutionary tradition education and education in the Party spirit and ethics.

Tongdao Red Army Long March Transfer Memorial Hall

Former site of the Tongdao Meeting

Red Landmark

In October 2016, a convention commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army’s Long March in Hunan Province was held at the memorial hall, one of the four venues holding the ceremony of commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Long March in China.

(Translated by Yang Hong)