Chapter 24 Xie Zichang

Xie Zichang (1897-1935), a native of Fenghuangshan Village, Anding (now Zichang) County, Shaanxi.When he was young, he studied in Anding County Higher Primary School, Xi'an Shaanxi Provincial No. 1 Middle School and Yulin Middle School. In the autumn of 1922, he was admitted to the Shanxi Army Corps to study military affairs. In the winter of 1925, he joined the Communist Party of China. At the beginning of 1926, he was sent back to northern Shaanxi by the Executive Committee of the Northern District of the Communist Party of China to set up a militia group and serve as the head of the group.Soon, the county militia regiment was organized into the twelfth company of the Shiqian regiment of Jing Yuexiu, a warlord in northern Shaanxi.During this period, he opened a peasant movement workshop and led the county peasant association to fight against local tyrants, evil gentry and usurers. The masses affectionately called him "Xie Qingtian".Afterwards, Xie Zichang was sent to the temporary third brigade of Xu Quanzhong (a member of the Communist Party of China) in Luonan as a battalion commissioner and deputy battalion commander. In May, together with Tang Shu and Liu Zhidan, he led the Weihua Uprising.Xie Zichang served as a member of the newly established Military Committee of the Northwest Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army and the captain of the third brigade.

In February 1929, he served as secretary of the Military Commission of the Northern Shaanxi Special Committee of the Communist Party of China. In October 1930, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Military Command of the Northern Shaanxi Action Committee of the Communist Party of China. In January 1932, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Anti-imperialist Allied Army. In February 1932, the Northwest Anti-Imperialist Allied Army was reorganized into the Shaanxi-Gansu Guerrilla Force of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. Xie Zichang served as the commander-in-chief and led his troops to fight against the Kuomintang army in Xunyi, Zhaojin, Yijun and other places in Yaoxian County.Successive victories. Between May and June, Xie Zichang, Jiao Weichi and others led the Jingyuan Mutiny, established the third detachment of the Red Army guerrillas in the Shaanxi-Gansu border, and served as the commander-in-chief. At the end of August, the Shaanxi Province of the Communist Party of China appointed Xie Zichang to return to the Shaanxi-Gansu guerrillas as the commander-in-chief. In September, Xie Zichang led his troops south to Yaoxian County, and wiped out more than 400 guards from Futongyao County's three-county defense regiment in the Zhaojin area.

In the summer of 1933, Xie Zichang was sent to the north to engage in anti-Japanese and national salvation activities. In November, the representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in the north sent Xie Zichang back to Shaanxi to serve as the military special commissioner in the Northwest.Xie Zichang returned to Anding in early 1934. On July 8, the General Headquarters of the Northern Shaanxi Guerrillas of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was established in Yangdaomao, Anding County, with Xie Zichang as the commander.In order to smash the first "encirclement and suppression" campaign launched by the Jing Yuexiu Department against the base areas in northern Shaanxi.Xie Zichang led his troops to the south and joined the 42nd Division of the Red 26th Army led by Liu Zhidan, chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu Frontier Revolutionary Military Committee, in the Nanliang area. Xie Zichang also served as the political commissar of the division. On August 15, he led the third regiment of the Red Forty-two Division and the first, second and fifth detachments of the northern Shaanxi guerrillas to the Anding area from Nanliang. On August 26, he led his troops to attack the mouth of Qingjian River.During the battle, Xie Zichang went to the front line to command, unfortunately he was shot in the chest, but he continued to command the battle until victory.

February 21, 1935.As the injury worsened.Xie Zichang died of illness in Dengzhan Bay, Anding County.Mao Zedong wrote inscriptions on Xie Zichang's tomb twice: "National Hero", "Although dead, he is still alive," and wrote the inscription himself.The government of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region approved in May 1942 to change the name of Anding County to Zichang County.