Junzhengping: The Nanchang Uprising — A Young Party's Choice on the Eve of Dawn
In the spring and summer of 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei successively betrayed the revolution, launching mass arrests and killings of Communist Party members and revolutionary masses. The young Chinese Communist Party faced the danger of being dismantled and annihilated. In mid-July, the CCP Central Committee decided to launch an armed uprising in Nanchang. Zhou Enlai was appointed Secretary of the Front Committee (前委), and the forces of He Long and Ye Ting arrived in succession.
Preparations were complete, awaiting only the order.
But before the order was issued, a man arrived first.
On the morning of July 30, in a classroom at the Nanchang Women's Vocational School, an emergency meeting of the Front Committee was underway.
Zhang Guotao attended in the capacity of Central Committee representative, claiming to relay a Comintern telegram instructing them to cooperate with Zhang Fakui, commander-in-chief of the Second Army Group.
Less than half a day remained before the originally scheduled time of the uprising. Should they obey the "order" and halt the action, or proceed according to the original plan?
"Everything is ready, and we're still sitting here discussing?" Li Lisan's voice carried heat.
"The Comintern has killed the Chinese revolution! Now that everything is ready for the Nanchang uprising, suddenly some international directive arrives to stop our action — I am absolutely opposed to this, unto death." Yun Daiying was even more impassioned.
The normally gentle and refined Zhou Enlai also rose to his feet, slammed the table, and shouted at Zhang Guotao: "The international representative and the Central Committee gave me the task of coming here to lead this action. Now you bring an order like this — I cannot bear this responsibility. I will return to Wuhan immediately to report to the Central Committee."
Faced with the Front Committee's fierce resistance, Zhang Guotao turned to Ye Ting — he recalled that this commander seemed to have reservations about the uprising.
Ye Ting replied in earnest: "Given the actual situation, there is no choice but to press forward regardless of everything!"
In fact, Zhang Fakui had already publicly "purged the Communists" (分共) under pressure from Wang Jingwei. The so-called "cooperation" was nothing more than a worthless, expired promissory note. To attach themselves to him would be tantamount to handing over the revolutionary forces on a platter.
The debate reached no conclusion, and the matter was left for the following day.
"Tick, tick…" The antique-style pendulum clock on the west side of the festive hall at the Jiangxi Grand Hotel ticked quietly on.
On the morning of July 31, the Front Committee convened again at this location.
Zhang Guotao still attempted to use his standing as Central Committee representative to obstruct the uprising. But the comrades of the Front Committee understood clearly that the moment would not wait — every second bore on the future of the revolution — and they unanimously and explicitly opposed him.
Seeing that not a single person supported him, Zhang Guotao finally relented and submitted to the majority.
At that moment, an even more urgent piece of intelligence arrived: Zhang Fakui was about to reach Nanchang on August 1. Orders had already been issued demanding that Ye Ting and He Long withdraw to Jiujiang; warrants for the arrest of Communist Party members had been issued; the Second Army Group's "purge of Communists" (清共) had become open.
There was no longer any room to debate "whether to launch the uprising." The only option was to burn their boats (破釜沉舟) before he arrived.
Ye Ting drafted the combat order: "In order to achieve the objective of eliminating the enemy forces in Nanchang, our army has decided to begin attacking enemy forces stationed inside and outside the city at 0400 hours tomorrow (the 1st), annihilating them in a single stroke!"
In the courtyard of the Grand Hotel, several large water vats had long since been filled with boiled water for the uprising soldiers to drink.
The combat order for the uprising had been issued. Yet the man who shouldered overall command of the uprising was He Long — who had not yet joined the Party at that time.
Since the Northern Expedition of 1926, He Long had repeatedly and proactively applied to join the Chinese Communist Party; he had long been convinced that only the Communist Party could save the workers and peasants. Chiang Kai-shek had dangled five million silver dollars, the Hanyang Arsenal, and the title of Wuhan Garrison Commander before him as inducements. On one side lay power and glory within easy reach; on the other, a revolutionary path with nine chances of death to one of survival under the White Terror. He never wavered in the slightest.
As early as the day after arriving in Nanchang, Zhou Enlai had personally gone to the 20th Army headquarters (Zigu Road) to meet with He Long and disclosed the entire uprising plan without reservation. Faced with the Party organization's unconditional trust, He Long did not hesitate for a moment, declaring with absolute resolve: "I will follow the Communist Party's orders completely! Whatever you tell me to do, I will do."
The day before the uprising, inside the hall where the officers' meeting was convened. He Long's gaze swept over the brothers-in-arms assembled below — men who shared his life and death — and he laid bare the perilous situation before them all: "The Kuomintang has betrayed the revolution. The Kuomintang is dead. Today we must raise the banner of revolution anew and oppose the reactionary government. Acting on the orders of the Communist Party, I have decided to lead the troops in an uprising. Those willing to follow me, we will make revolution together; those unwilling to follow me may leave the unit." The assembled officers responded in unison: "We will follow resolutely!"
The troops' resolve was set, and all units simultaneously began pre-battle reconnaissance.
Everything was advancing according to plan — yet no one had noticed that someone within the ranks had harbored treacherous intentions.
While the troops were making final preparations, the Front Committee assigned Zhu De a special task: to use his old ties with the Yunnan Army (滇军) to detain the regimental commanders of two enemy regiments.
The 23rd and 24th Regiments of the Yunnan Army garrisoning the city were the main defending force. With their commanders absent, the chain of command would be severed.
On the evening of the 31st, as dusk fell, the Jiabin Lou on Nanchang's Houqiang Road was already ablaze with lights.
It was still early before the scheduled time of the uprising. Zhu De invited the group to play mahjong, maximizing the distance between the commanders and their units. At the mahjong table, the enemy regimental commanders played with great enjoyment, completely unaware of the storm gathering in the city.
At around 9 p.m., an enemy officer burst in to report: there might be an uprising that night. The enemy regimental commanders rose in a panic and took their leave.
Should he forcibly detain them to stabilize the situation? Or hold his position for the time being?
Zhu De remained outwardly calm while in an instant weighing the pros and cons — forcibly detaining them would expose his side's intentions and easily provoke a frenzied counterattack by the enemy. In the end, he let everyone go without revealing anything, then went directly to He Long's command post to report the emergency.
How the intelligence had leaked was unclear. But Zhu De knew that the time left for the uprising forces was running out.
At 10 p.m. on the night of July 31, He Long urgently reported to the Front Committee: Zhao Fusheng, deputy battalion commander of the 1st Division of the 20th Army, had defected!
This traitor had secretly slipped into the headquarters of Zhu Peide's Fifth Army Group and disclosed the entire uprising plan.
The air in the command post suddenly tightened — What to do? What to do? What to do?
To delay was to sit and await destruction; to proceed as planned was no different from walking into a trap — advance or retreat, both were dead ends. A moment's hesitation, and days of preparations and the lives of countless people would all be lost.
After a silence of seconds or minutes, Zhou Enlai spoke — move the uprising time forward from 0400 hours to 0200 hours!
The time of the uprising was drawing ever closer. A decision had to be made immediately. Only by striking while the enemy was still dispersed, launching a surprise attack, could the spark of the uprising be preserved!
Outside the window, a sudden gust of night wind rose, rustling the leaves in the courtyard.
Midnight had passed. The hour hand crept toward 2 a.m.
— Bang! Bang! Bang! Three crisp signal shots rang out.
"Rivers and mountains unified! (河山统一!)"
Using this as their password, the uprising troops — red neckties around their necks, white towels tied to their arms — launched a fierce assault on the enemy in the faint light of oil lamps and torches.
Inside the Jiangxi Grand Hotel, the tea on the table had long gone cold. Zhou Enlai stood at the window, eyes fixed on the gunfire erupting outside like a sudden downpour, one hand still resting on the telephone receiver he had just hung up, his knuckles faintly white. Multiple fronts inside the city opened fire simultaneously; battle reports kept coming in.
The direction of the densest gunfire was the old Provincial Administration Yamen (旧藩台衙门).
That was the most fiercely contested position in the entire battle — the defending enemy had set up machine guns on both sides of the main gate, sealing off the critical Gulou thoroughfare. He Long, heedless of the threat of bullets, advanced to within two hundred meters of the enemy position to command in person, simultaneously diverting troops to seize the high ground on rooftops and directing squads to scale walls and outflank the enemy's rear, tearing open the enemy's defensive line.
Four hours of bloody fighting. Over 3,000 enemy troops annihilated. The entire city of Nanchang liberated.
The traitor Zhao Fusheng was identified among the captured and executed on the spot.
Dawn broke.
The morning light of August 1 pierced through the gunsmoke and fell upon the roof of the Jiangxi Grand Hotel. The banner of victory was raised high atop the building.
From the reign of blood and terror in the spring and summer of 1927 to the gunshots that split the long night, the Nanchang Uprising was by no means a flash of inspiration by a group of heroes at a critical moment. It was the choice and resolve (抉择与担当) that a young party learned in the face of desperate circumstances.
It was precisely these actions taken at the crossroads of life and death that used blood and fire to proclaim the determination to carry the revolution through to the end, and translated a written decision to "take up arms in resistance" into the gunshots that turned the tide of history (扭转乾坤).
This dawn belonged to Nanchang — and even more, to the Chinese revolution. From this day forward, the history of the Chinese Communist Party independently leading revolutionary war and founding the people's army officially began.