K M Cheng-Travel Journal: The Best Moments of My Travelling Days in China

" The past is the past. Learn from it and move on "

" To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future "

" The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future "

Lijiang, Yunnan

A chronology of Mao's life & the important events impacting on China in the 19th century :

1893 (26 Dec) - The birth of Mao Zedong. A military strategist, theorist, poet, visionary leader and founder of the People Republic of China

1911 (27 April) - The 2nd Guangzhou Uprising against the Qing Dynasty

1912 (1 Jan) - Formation of the Republic of China in Nanjing

1913-1917 - Mao worked & studied in Changsa, Hunan

1916-1928 - Warlord Era

1919 - May Fourth (May 4) Movement, an anti-imperialist, cultural & political movement by students of Beijing

1925 (March 12) - Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Republic of China died

1927 - The Nanchang & Autumn Harvest Uprising, Jiangxi

1927-1928 - Mao's Red Army Base in Jinggangshan

1931 - Japan took control of the North East of China

1931 (Sept) - September 18 Incident, the darkest period in China modern history, Japanese army staged a full scale war in North East China

1934 (Oct) - The Long March (25,000km), a military retreat by the Red Army, final destination in Yan'an

1935-1940 - Mao's alliance with Kuomintang Party to fight against Japanese onslaught. Mao's troop arrived in Yan'an in Oct 1935 after the Long March

1936 (Dec) - Xian Incident, an important turning point in modern history of China. A mutiny by two army generals forcing Chiang Kai Shek of the Kuomintang Party to form a united front with the Communist Party of China to fight against the Japanese aggression

1937-1945 - The 2nd Sino-Japanese War

1937 - The creation of a Japanese puppet Manchu State in Northern China with Puyi as the puppet emperor

1937 (July) - The Luoguoqiao Incident or the July 7 Incident,

1937 (Dec) - The Nanjing Massacre

1937 - the establishment of the 1st agricultural cooperative & production base of the Red Army in Nanniwan in Shaaxbei

1940-1949 - Resuming Civil War in China

1941 (Dec 7) - Japan attack on Pearl Harbor

1943 (Nov 27) - Cairo Declaration in Egypt by 3 great allies from President Roosevelt of USA, Winston Churchill of UK & General Chiang Kai Shek of the Republic of China to unite and fight against the Japanese in the Far East countries

1945 - The final campaign for the Communist Party of China to take over China

1945 (August) - Surrender of Japan in China

1946 (July-Sept) - Eight meetings were held in Mt Lushan between Communist Party & Kuomintang to end the civil war in China, mediated by General Marshall from USA

1949 (Oct 1) - Chiang Kai-shek fled from mainland China to Taiwan. Mao's age was 55. Communists founded the People's Republic of China in Beijing

1950 (June25) -1953 - The Korean War

1966-1976 - Cultural revolution, Red Guard & Gang of Four

1975 (April 5) - Chiang Kai-shek died in Taiwan

1976 (Jan 8) -Zhou Enlai died

1976 (July 6) - Zhu De died

1976 (Sept 9) - Mao died in Beijing

1978 - China's Economic Reform led by Deng Xiaoping

1997 (Feb 19) - Deng Xiaoping died

My several free & easy visits to China ( ie Xian, Yan'an, Changsa, Nanjing, Harbin, Mudanjiang, Urumqi, Qingdao, Mt Lushan, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Beijing & Taiwan) in recent years had taken me to a number of historic places and in addition allowed me to gain a better insight about Mao's political struggles & ideologies since his younger days in Changsa right up to the Nanchang uprising, the civil war between Communist Party of China & Kuomintang Party and their alliance against Japanese aggression etc.

Indeed China was in the state of great turbulence during the 19th century facing two major wars ie The Civil War (estimated 8m deaths) & the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (25m deaths).

Prominent figures, writers & statesmen who played a big role during these turbulent years were Sun Yat Sen, Mao Zedong, Zhou En Lai, Lu Xun, Chiang Kai Shek, Soong Mei Ling, Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, Chang Xueliang, Jiang Qing etc

Yan'an, Shaanxi (294km from Xian) & Jinggangshan (306km from Nanchang, Jiangxi) are in my priority list of visits if I am heading to these provinces in the near future. In May 2017, I had the opportunity to visit the cave houses of Yan'an, used as the base for the Red Army's revolution headquarters in the 1930's.

These pictures below leave behind a past history & a great story ............ a big learning curve for a traveler to get to know about Mao's legacy in China , a great nation ........

1) The Former Residence of Mao Zedong's in Shaoshan, Hunan (1893-1976)

2) Liu Shao Chi's (1898-1969) Residence, Hunan - A prominent Chinese revolutionary statesman during Mao's era; most powerful man behind Mao & Zhou En Lai but was purged by Mao in 1966

3) Mao Zedong worked and studied in Changsa, Hunan from 1913 to 1923, Mao's famous quote " Pointing to Mountains & Rivers. Setting People Afire with Words " was pronounced here.

4) The Negotiation Platform, Mt Lushan, Jiangxi - the meeting place (8 times) between Communist Party Of China & Kuomingtang Party (July-Sept 1946) and mediated by General Marshall, special envoy of the United States of America

5) Xian Incident, Shaanxi - General Chiang Kai Shek was held captive by a mutiny led by General Zhang Xueliang & General Yang Hucheng in Dec 1936 forcing Chiang to form a united front with Mao's communist party to fight against the Japanese aggression.

6) 7 Sages International Youth Hostel, Xian - a former command post for Red Army troops

7) Revolution Park, Xian, Shaanxi

8) General Chang Xueliang's (1901-2001) Residence - Shenyang, Liaoning. General Chang's father Chang Zuolin, a warlord of Manchuria (1916-1928) was assassinated by a bomb planted by the Japanese army during a train ride heading home. After the Xian incident in 1936, General Chang Xueliang was placed under arrest in China and Taiwan for another 40 years

9) 18 September 1931 History Museum - Shenyang, Liaoning

10) Portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square, Beijing since 1949

11) Monument of People's Heroes - Tiananmen Square, Beijing

12) Imperial Palace of the Manchu State, Changchun, Jilin - the former residence of Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Puyi was made the puppet emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchu State after the invasion in Sept 1931.

13) Lugouqiao Incident & July 7 Incident, Beijing - the start of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

14) Monument to the Eight Women Fallen in War (1938), Mudanjiang River - Jilin, Heilongjiang. The eight women died as martyrs after putting a brave fight against the Japanese troops in Mudanjiang

15) Red Army Memorial in North East China - Harbin, Heilongjiang

16) People's Heroes Monument - Yantai, Shandong

17) Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders - Nanjing City, Jiangsu. Some 300,000 civilians were killed within two weeks when Japanese soldiers took over Nanjing in Dec 13 1937

18) Martyrs Mausoleum - Urumqi, Xinjiang, China

19) Mao Zemin (1896-1943) - A younger brother of Mao Zedong, Head of the State Bank of Chinese Soviet Republic in Ruijin, participated in The Long March, captured & executed by a war lord while at Urumqi, Xinjiang

20) Sun Yat Sen Memorial - Nanjing, Jiangsu

21) Yuhuatai Memorial Park of Revolutionary Martyrs, located outside the Zhonghua Gate, Nanjing City, Jiangsu

22) Cairo Declaration, Egypt (1943) - 3 great allies , Roosevelt of USA, Winston Churchill of United Kingdom & General Chiang Kai Shek signed a joint declaration to unite their military operations against the Japanese aggression in the Far East countries

23) Surrender of Japan in China ( August 1945)

24) Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling (1893-1981) now a museum in Shichahai area of Beijing, married to Sun Yat Sen, father of modern China & First President of Republic of China. Her youngest sister, Soong Mei Ling (1898-2003) married to Chiang Kai Shek, the leader of the Kuomintang Party

25) Madam Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence, Huahai Road Shanghai. Madam Soong lived in Shanghai from 1948-1963

26) Chiang Kai Shek (1887-1975) Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan, a leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. Chiang led the Kuomintang Party and fight against Mao Zedong's Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War

27) Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925) Memorial Hall, Guangzhou, Guangdong - A Chinese Revolutionary, a medical practitioner & the founding father of the Republic of China

28) Sun Yat Sen Monument, Guangzhou, Guangdong

29) Sun Yat Sen Statute, Qingdao, Shandong

30) Lu Xun Park, Qingdao, Shandong - a leading figure of modern Chinese literature (1881-1936)

31) Mao Anying (Mao Zedong's elder son) statute in Dandong, Lioning - Mao Anying was killed in action by airstrike during the Korean War

32) Monuments dedicated to anti-Japanese struggle, Wudalianchi, Heilongjiang

33) Mao Zedong Statute in Nanjing City, Jiangsu

34) Mao Zedong Statute in Dandong, Liaoning

35) Russian Red Army Memorial - Tumen, Jilin

36) People's Park - Chengdu, Sichuan

37) Mao's Statute, Chengdu, Sichuan

38) Hunan Martyrs Park, Changsa, Hunan

39) Guangzhou Martyrs Park, Guangdong

40) Minxi (west of Fujian province) was the strategic base during the Chinese Civil War. 26,000 locals from Longyan joined the Long March with Mao in 1934

41) Yan'an was the revolutionary base for Communist Party of China (Red Army) in 1936-1946. Mao & his leaders stayed in cave houses which were also used as their work place & command center