All language subtitles for Making A New China EP 02 From a Single Spark to a Prairie Fire

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behind

an ancestral temple in mao ping jingang

shan

stands a building because of its

octagonal skylight

it's known as the octagonal building

it was here almost a century ago under

the flickering light of an

oil lamp that mao zedong penned two

seminal works

why is it that red political power can

exist in china

and the struggle in the jingang

mountains

two brilliant articulations of the

theory

of the armed independent regime of

workers and peasants

that would illuminate the future course

of the chinese revolution

on february the 2nd 2016 general

secretary of the cpc

xi jinping presented flower baskets to

the revolutionary mata

cemetery in jingangshan

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you

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in july 1922 the cpc went back to

shanghai for its second

national congress the important

practical decisions

made at the meeting were shaped by the

conclusion of the analysis of china's

existing social

political and economic conditions

presented to congress

that china remained a semi-feudal and

semi-colonial country

so while reaffirming its ultimate

commitment to the realization of

socialism

and communism the party's immediate

goals were to overthrow the warlords

defeat international imperialism and

unify china

as a true democratic republic the

congress

also approved the first constitution of

the communist party of china

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because of the nearby silk reeling

plants during the 1920s

chinja road and chengdu north road

housed shanghai's

largest concentration of industrial

workers

from the very beginning the cpc had

emphasized the central role to be played

by organized labour

in the struggle so in august 1921 to

coordinate its activities in this arena

it had formed the china labor

association office

it was an initiative that soon bore

fruit between january 1922

when the hong kong seamen went on strike

and february 1923

when the beijing hanko railway workers

down tools

the chinese working class led by the

party began to flex its muscles

in autumn 1921 mao zedong

li li san and lyo xiao qi spent a year

in an yuen coal mine

they had come to investigate the

miserable living conditions

endured by the workers there and to

agitate for industrial action at the

grassroots

their mission was a success when the

workers came out on strike

they were supported by all sections of

society

the beijing hanco railway worker strike

however ended much less happily

brutally suppressed by the warlords it

was an episode that culminated in the

martyrdom

of a number of early cpc members

in the aftermath of this bloody disaster

for a while

activism in the national labour movement

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subsided

for the young cpc it was a harsh lesson

the party was still a long way from

being strong enough

to take on the forces of imperialism and

feudalism

to do that a broad united front would be

necessary

sunyat sen then premiere of the

kwamintang

saw the political potential of a cpc-led

national labor movement

recognizing the cpc as a vibrant

revolutionary force

he decided to cooperate with the party

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these images show a group of cpc members

participating

in communist international conferences

in moscow

between the years 1922 and 1924.

it was with the assistance of the common

turn that the cbc began to establish a

united front

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for its third national congress the cpc

delegates headed south to guangzhou

determined to find a way of cooperating

with sunyat sen's

this congress ruled that individual

members of the cpc

could also belong to the kmt but one

thing was clear

however close their partnership with the

kmt

the cpc would retain its political

ideological

and organizational independence

in january 1924 sun yatsen

chaired the kmt's first national

congress

also in guangzhou at this pivotal

meeting

the kuomintang adopted three

revolutionary policies

to side with soviet russia to unite its

efforts with the cbc

and to support the workers and peasants

the first

united front was now a reality

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in july 1926 the kmt's national

revolutionary army

began its northern expedition to break

the power of the warlords

it was a campaign in which cpc members

like yet ting

who led his independent regiment into wu

chan

and earned it the moniker of iron army

played a conspicuous and exemplary role

as the northern expedition was getting

into full swing

the peasant movements of hunan hubei and

jiangxi

were gathering momentum what to make of

these peasant fighters

were they little more than bandits who

had been crushed

as reactionary elements in the kmt and

some

cpc right opportunists maintained or

were they potential revolutionary allies

it was a question that urgently needed

an answer

so early in 1927 mao zedong went to

hunan to see for himself

the result of his 32-day field trip was

his

report on an investigation of the

peasant movement in hunan

the anti-peasant position mao reported

was wrong

the peasants had to be mobilized and

transformed into a vanguard of

revolution

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but there was another more immediate

danger looming on the horizon for the

revolution

by this point chiang kai-shek had risen

to power and

aided and abetted by the imperialist

powers was beginning to target

communists

just as the situation reached a critical

juncture key

cpc leaders compromised and conceded

ground

it turned to be a fatal mistake

on april 12 1927 chang

struck in the counter revolutionary coup

that followed in shanghai

many communists and revolutionaries were

arrested and

executed a bitterer blow came on july

the 15th

when wang jingwei a key figure of the

kmt government

formally broke with the cpc as cpc

members were liquidated

the first united front came to a bloody

end

the nationalist revolution of china

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failed

lida zhao a founding father of the cpc

was one of the many who lost their lives

he was hanged by the warlord zhang tsua

lin on april 28

1927.

while in prison awaiting execution lee

remained defiant

as a young student i began the fight for

national liberation

i've stuck to my beliefs time will tell

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equally brave and defined was chun yan

yen

then secretary of jiangsu provincial

party committee

staring death in the face at longhua

execution ground shanghai

he refused to kneel as ordered by the

executioner

literally standing his ground until the

very

last moment less than a year later

his younger brother chun chun yen also a

jiangsu provincial party committee

member

joined his brother in martyrdom dying

bravely

in shanghai aged a mere 26

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nor did this brutal campaign spare the

cpc's female comrades

with xiang jingyu for example bravely

facing torture

and execution in wuhan on the way to the

execution ground

it's said the executioner filled her

mouth with stones

and gagged her face with a belt

in the aftermath of her death her

husband sai her son

wrote great jinyu heroic

jin you you didn't die you'll never die

you're not just my beloved

you're the eternal beloved of the

chinese proletariat

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but even as this white terror spread

across the country

the cpc remained unbowed as mao zedong

later remarked but the communist party

of china

and the chinese people were neither

cowed nor conquered

nor exterminated they picked themselves

up

wiped off the blood buried their fallen

comrades

and went into battle again

in fact it was a time of trial that

brought forth many true

heroes despite the danger yejin yin

her lung panda huay shuter lee and other

resolute revolutionaries

put caution to one side and joined the

cpc

the workers and peasants meanwhile

regrouped

and prepared to fight another day

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the fight back began in the small hours

of august the 1st

1927 that morning led by the cpc

twenty thousand soldiers rose up the

first shots of

armed resistance to the kmt

reactionaries in nan chang

had been fired the nan chang

uprising born of the cpc's determination

to resist the kmt's extermination

campaign

marked a significant turning point in

cpc history

the beginning of its independent

military capability

that would soon lead to the

establishment of a people's army

and the party's rise to national power

six days after the nan chang uprising

began

the cpc central committee secretly

convened in number 41

san jiao street in hong kong this

has gone down in history as the august

7th meeting

this emergency meeting confirmed the

reasons for the failure of the

nationalist revolution

and determined the general policy of

agrarian reform

and armed resistance to the kmt as such

it gave new hope and inspiration to a

dispirited

and disoriented cpc

mao zedong was one party figure who laid

particular stress on the need for

continued military action

political power he memorably observed

grows out of the barrel of a gun

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it was in the wake of the august seventh

meeting the chu

chobai key cpc central committee member

came up with the idea of sending mao to

work in shanghai

the young mao however felt that

grassroots activism

would serve the needs of the revolution

better than working in the city so mao

departed to the border area between

hunan

and jiangxi to lead the autumn harvest

uprising

before the uprising mao took his wife

yang kaihuei

back to her hometown bansang in hunan he

would never

see her again

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in october 1930 yang was arrested and

interrogated about mao's whereabouts

when commanded to publicly renounce her

marriage

she resolutely refused death was

preferable to betrayal of her husband

and the revolutionary cause

on november 14th she was executed

outside

lyoyang gate changsha young age

just29 had paid the ultimate price

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on september 9th 1927 in response to the

cpc hunan provincial committee's order

to seize changsha

the autumn harvest uprising began

advancing in three columns the troops

advanced on changsha

but losses were high especially in ping

jiang and

lyoyang of the 5 000 who started

only 1 500 survived the initial advance

mao zedong broke off the attack and fell

back into the mountains

but far from being a defeat this

withdrawal into countryside would prove

a turning point for the chinese

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revolution

mao's army stayed in san juan village

jiangxi

for five days during this time the army

reorganized

two reforms were of a special importance

party branches

at company level and rank and file

committees to ensure democracy and

political equality

the firm establishment of party

authority over the army

marked an important step in the creation

of a new people's army

led by the proletariat

with the army fully reorganized mao

marched on

sir ping town in jin gangshan area on

october 27 1927

aiming to establish strongholds in the

mountains the struggle

for the revolutionary base areas had

begun

in addition to the autumn harvest

uprising more than 100

armed uprisings took place during this

period nanjang

guangzhou the haifang lufong area

huangmar

southern hunan by sir all saw

disturbances of some kind

young cbc members joe wong young

tai lei yun dai ying

and pangpai all died bravely before

they'd even bid their families farewell

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but costly though the uprisings were

they sowed the seeds for future

revolutionary success

in april 1928 judea and janji

led the remaining nan chang uprising

troops and southern hunan uprising

peasant forces

to the jingan shang area by late april

they joined forces with mao's troops in

longshore

ningang county

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the successful link-up of jews and mao's

forces created

the fourth workers and peasants

revolutionary army

later to be known as the workers and

peasants red army

this red army soon proved its worth in

battle smashing through the kmt's

repeated attempts to encirclement

and winning the battles of rue dojang

lang yuenko

and huangyang jai

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in the midst of the intense fighting

political developments continued

between april and may 1928 while mao

and zhu struggled on injin gangshan

and over 100 other representatives

secretly

left china they were bound for moscow

host city of the sixth national congress

of the cpc

held in june and july that year the only

cpc congress

ever held outside china it was a

congress that marked a shift in the

emphasis of the party's revolutionary

efforts

from then on more attention would be

paid to long-term

efforts to win over the broad masses

than to uprisings

with this in mind towards the end of

1928

the jin gangshan revolutionary base

promulgated the

jingangshan landlord distributing land

to all the poor peasants convinced that

the red army was fighting for their

interests

more and more peasants committed

themselves to the communist cause

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however militarily the situation at the

encircled jingang shan

looked dire so on january the 14th 1929

mao and zhu broke through the kmt lines

and advanced towards southern gem xi

partly pursued by kmt regiments

and constantly harassed by reactionary

militia groups

as mao later noted in his report to the

central committee

the jin gung shun breakout was one of

the most perilous undertakings ever

attempted

by the red army

meanwhile problems soon became apparent

among the soldiers as well as leadership

of the fourth red army

two unhealthy tendencies made themselves

felt

over emphasis on purely military

concerns and a short-sighted tactical

approach

this caused a fierce debate about the

fundamental principle

upon which the red army and its

relationship with the party was founded

on december 28 1929 something unusual

happened in gutien in subtropical fujian

a heavy snowfall

it was against this backdrop that the

ninth party congress of the workers and

peasants red army took place

an event that would go down in history

as the famous gutien congress

that placed party and army building on a

firm

ideological footing and reaffirmed

absolute party control over the people's

army

it was a milestone in the history of the

party and its army

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it was soon after the gutien congress

that mao wrote to lin biao

addressing the spirit of pessimism that

had led some to ask

how long will the red flag be flying mao

wrote

an old chinese saying applies here a

single spark

can start a prairie fire

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by the end of the letter his language

would become even more evocative

pertaining to the future of the

revolution he wrote

it is like a ship far out at sea whose

masthead can already be seen above the

shore

it is like the morning sun in the east

whose shimmering rays

are visible from a high mountain top it

is like a child about to be born

moving restlessly in its mother's womb

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beginning in october 1930 the kmt

army launched large-scale encirclement

and eradication operations

against the central revolutionary base

but after beating back three offensives

the red army consolidated its position

by connecting up the bases

in southern jiangxi and western fujian

the result was a huge unified central

revolutionary base

covering 20 counties likewise

consolidated base areas with a total

population

of millions existed in hubei banan and

hui

and western hunan and hubei together

these base areas burned like red flames

in the very heart of kmt

rule spreading south and north growing

in strength and power

in november 1931 a provisional central

government for the chinese soviet

republic

was established in rajin jiangxi this

was the first national workers and

peasants democratic government

in chinese history provided the cpc with

its first experience of governance it

was a move that strengthened the

development of the revolutionary bases

enhanced the influence of the party and

the red regime

and created a new theater for the

agrarian revolutionary war

at a critical moment for the revolution

therefore the chinese communists

represented by mao zedong were able to

apply

the universal truths of marxism to the

concrete practical needs of the chinese

revolution

it was this synthesis that enabled mao

to discover a revolutionary road

encircle the cities from the rural areas

then seize nationwide power

with armed force the spirit of jin

gangshan

and that of the soviet area formed

during the exploration of this road

are timeless carrying as they do the

original aspirations

and missions of the cpc they continue

to foster the cpc's great revolutionary

spirit

to this very day

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sometimes

food

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season

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foreign

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yeah foreign

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foreign

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