The Allure of Yenan

Dear Readers, 

I have been assigned the task of investigating why so many people from across China have been choosing to make the treacherous journey to Yenan, the remote and impoverished location that the Chinese Communist Party has established as their wartime base. I made the arduous voyage to Yenan myself in order to talk to some of the people who have settled there, and to learn more about what it is about life there that has compelled people to venture out there. Through my conversations with various people who have recently arrived at Yenan, I learned that since the occurrence of the Long March, the CCP has been idolized and venerated for their immense bravery and dedication, and Mao Zedong has become the Party’s undisputed leader. It may seem paradoxical that the Long March could have strengthened the Party when it contributed to the deaths of so many people, but those who remained emerged more dedicated to the cause than ever: “although the Long March was a tactical defeat, it had very beneficial psychological and organizational effects and gave the Communists an important strategic advantage. Psychologically, the Long March was not unlike Valley Forge in the American Revolution. The suffering and heroism actually strengthened the movement and proved that it was indomitable. Organizationally, the Long March clarified the leadership of the Party” [Dietrich, 25].

On top of this element of hero worship which is inspiring people to make the journey to Yenan, I learned that there are several aspects of the CCP’s current policies that are appealing to people from all different backgrounds, from peasants to intellectuals to elites. The CCP recruits and trains people who are willing and able to fight Japan. The CCP also advocates novel ideas about the importance of convergence between the leaders and the masses, the necessity of dismantling normative hierarchies and eliminating elitism in favor of cultivating a culture of cooperation, and about the role that the military should play in society, through the formation of the Red Army. A lot of these new CCP ideas become even more appealing when presented in contrast to the current state of the KMT, which people argue is plagued by military weakness, corruption, and hierarchy.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that people are drawn to Yenan is because of the CCP’s focus on mobilizing the populace in the fight against Japan, primarily through guerilla warfare tactics. The war against Japan is indicative of a larger CCP goal which appeals heavily to many: the goal of eliminating imperialist influence within China. I had the opportunity to speak with a woman named Guo Qi-min about why she came to Yenan, and she said, “I went to the anti-Japanese university in Yenan in the fall of 1938. We had classes on current affairs, philosophy, and so on…we got up early in the morning. We did morning drills and we learned how to use weapons to fight the Japanese” [Williams, 1:10:50]. Training to fight the Japanese with the CCP in Yenan is more appealing to many than the idea of training with the Nationalist Army, as catastrophes have occurred due to Chiang Kai-Shek’s decision making. For instance, in 1938, Chiang Kai-Shek opened the dikes of the Yellow River with the goal of preventing the Japanese from traveling onward. However, the Chinese people who lived in the area were not warned, leading to thousands of villages flooding, millions of families becoming homeless, and hundreds of thousands of people dying, and the tactic did not even work to hinder the Japanese [Williams, 1:07:15]. 

The CCP also stresses the necessity of convergence between the leaders and the masses – a novel ideology that appeals to many whose voices have never been heard within traditional systems of government. In Yenan, Mao Zedong introduced the principle of mass line, or “solidarity in the effort to achieve the goals of the people,” which he argued can be achieved only through an intimate, sustained relationship between the Party and the people [Dietrich, 27]. It can even be said that “instead of mere majority rule, Mao aimed at total solidarity between the CCP and the masses” [Dietrich, 27]. The Party and the people must ultimately become one in their ideas. To use Mao’s own words from “Resolution of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on Methods of Leadership”: “correct leadership must come from the masses and go to the masses” [Mao, 118]. 

Social hierarchies, something that are ever present in traditional Confucian society, also dissipate in Yenan in favor of unity and cooperation. In 1936, Edgar Snow interviewed Mao, and reported that he embodied the “simplicity and naturalness of the Chinese peasant”, living in caves alongside the rank and file of the Red Army [Snow, 185]. This idea that the leaders experience the same material conditions as the masses appeals to many who are dismayed with the rumored corruption of Chiang Kai-Shek’s wife’s family, who have been accused of using government money to their own advantage.

 All members of society who agree with the cause of the CCP can be included in life at Yenan, no matter their background. The CCP seeks to eliminate intellectual elitism in society, instead making cultural productions such as literature and art accessible and relatable to the masses. Mao argues in “Talks at the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Art” that workers in literature and art cannot be out-of-touch with the people, but instead must be deeply in tune with them. He writes, “yours is the language of intellectuals, theirs is the language of the popular masses” [Mao, 114]. The CCP seeks to eliminate hierarchies and elitism, but that does not mean it refuses to work with those who have previously enjoyed a superior social or economic position, so long as they are open to change. I spoke with a Communist officer by the name of Wang Ping who emphasized the fact that the CCP is willing to bring together people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, telling me, “We didn’t attack the rich. We even allied with landlords as long as they were not collaborators and wanted to resist” [Williams, 1:12:10].

As I have touched upon already, The Red Army was established here in Yenan, and it operates in ways that are very different from the role that the military has played in Chinese society in the past. The Red Army operates under very close Party control, and its ultimate purpose is to implement and reinforce the previously mentioned social, economic, and political changes to Chinese society [Dietrich, 24]. In “Talks at the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Art,” Mao argued that the military plays a vital role in shaping the new fabric of Chinese society, writing, “victory over the enemy depends primarily on armies with guns in their hands, but this kind of army alone is not enough… we still need a cultural army” [Mao, 113]. He goes on to argue that this cultural army can diminish the impact or reach of both “China’s feudal culture and the slavish culture that serves imperialist aggression” [Mao, 114]. Mao also views the Army as a tool for practicing the mass line. He states that “All members of the people’s army have a conscious discipline, fighting not for the private interests of a few, but for the interests of the broad masses and the whole nation” [Mao, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, 52]. Within the Army itself, Mao seeks to dismantle normative hierarchies that are perpetuated by Confucian ideology; he stresses that “officers teach soldiers, soldiers teach officers, and soldiers teach each other” [Mao, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, 80].

The journey may be perilous and the conditions upon arrival may be barren, but there is a lot about life at Yenan that appeals deeply to many people. A chance to defeat an imperialist aggressor, the formation of the mass line, the dismantling of hierarchies and elitism, and the allures of the Red Army are all enticing Chinese citizens. One could even say that they are coming to Yenan “because they [want] to fight Japan, and because there [is] a sense here of building a new society” [Williams, 1:09:40]. Stay safe, my readers, until next time. 

Sincerely, Lei Ju