Author: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan
Date: 12-26-03 03:32
Mao Zedong in Jingang Shan
毛澤東在井崗山上.
井崗山
山下旌旗在望, =Shan xia jing qi zai wang,
山頭鼓角相聞. =Shan tou gu jiao xian wen.
敵軍圍困萬千重,=Di jun wei kun wan qian chong,
我自巋然不動. =Wo zi kui ran bu dong.
早已森嚴壁壘, =Zao yi sen yan bi lei,
更加眾志成城. =Geng jia zhong zhi cheng cheng.
黃洋界上砲聲隆, =Huang yang jie shang pao sheng long,
報道敵軍宵遁. =Bao dao di jun xiao dun.
Jinggang Shan
At the mountain foot our banners,
On the mountain crest sound bungles and drums.
The foe round us in their thousands,
We stood fast, unmoving.
Our defense a stout wall about us,
Now oue wills unite, impregnable fortress.
From Huan Yang Jie the thunder of guns,
The enemy fades at night.
Written by Mao Zedong (毛澤東) in autumn 1928.
Translated by Han Suyin (韓素音) in her book on page 207
"The Morning Deluge 大洪水" (First Edition T10/72)
NOTE:
In 1923 Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) formed an United Front with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which was founded in July 1921, to fight the Warlords in the north. Dr Sun Yat-sen died on 12th March, 1923. In 1927, the United Front collapsed and Chiang Keh-shek (蔣介石) wanted to exterminate the CCP. On the first of August 1927 the CCP staged an uprising in Nanchang (南昌). On 8th September, 1927, Mao Ze-Dong (毛澤東) led a group of peasants and staged an uprising called the Autumn Harvest Uprising (秋收暴動) in Hunan province (湖南省). After the insurrection, the following month, Mao Ze-Dong congregated the remnants of the uprising of about 800 men and 80 rifles. They climbed the Jinggang Shan (井崗山) and established the first CCP revolutionary base in these mountains.
Jinggang Shan is a massive mountain range, lying between the two provinces of Jiangxi (江西省) and Hunan. At that time there were only five villages in this region of 900 square kilometers. All the families were Hakkas whose forefathers had come from the north several hundred years ago.The total population in Jinggang Shan was less than 2,000 and they were so poor that only a few of them had more than a pair of trousers. They made fire by striking stones. (see Selected Works of Mao Ze-Dong Vol.1 pages 93 to 94)
The red earth in Jinggang Shan was so hard that hardly any crops grew in this desolated area. These Hakka men were mostly porters and farm hands in the plains below. Mao managed to win over two bands of about 600 Hakka bandits in this area. The Hakkas in Jinggang Shan supported Mao Ze Dong.
After the Nanchang uprising and having wandered the Hakka regions in the provinces of Fujian (福建省) and Guangdong (廣東省), in April 1928 Zhu De
(朱德), a Hakka originally from Sichuan province (四川省), leading a force of about
2,000 men, arrived in Jinggang Shan and joined up with Mao Ze-Dong. Together, there were about 4,000 of them in the region.
On 22nd June, 1928, the Kuomintang (國民黨KMT) launched an attack on Jinggang Shan. Mao Zedong defeated the KMT forces by using the tactics in Sun Wu's
(孫武)'s military classic book of "The Art of War" written 2,000 years before.
(1) 敵進我退=If the enemy advances, we retreat.
(2) 敵退我進=If the enemy retreats, we pursue.
(3) 敵駐我擾=If the enemy halts and encamps, we harass.
(4) 敵疲我打=If the enemy tires and seeks to avoid battle, we attack.
In the late August Mao Zedong leading some soldiers left Jinggang Shan for Gui Dong (桂東) in southern Huanan province. On 30th August, 1928, the KMT forces from the provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan launched a second attack on Jinggang Shan.
To explain the poem, I quote, on Dr Han Suyin's book "The Deluge":
"The reference to banners at the foot of the mountain is because while the Hakkas
and militia at the top were holding the passes, a small regiment left at the base, by
forced marches, attacked the enemy (KMT) in the rear. Thinking the (Red) armies
had returned, the enemy (KMT) fled after four attacks had been launched against the defenders (the Hakkas) on the crest. (Huang Yang Jie 黃洋界is the name of the five passes).
Mao Zedong was so happy that he wrote this poem to celebrate the victory.
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
26122003
Yoon-Ngan
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