Yuhuangding Uprising: Deeply Changed the Pattern of Anti-Japanese War in Jiaodong

　At the highest point of the Yuhuangding at the northern end of the central axis of Laizhou City, Shandong Province, stands a majestic monument to revolutionary martyrs. The monument is 18 meters high and has a light tower shape. The front is engraved with Mao Zedong's handwriting "Revolutionary Martyrs Monument", and the back is engraved with Mao Zedong's handwriting "Long live the martyrs". The monument platform railing is made of white marble and the base is made of granite rubble. The pedestal is inscribed with the inscription:
Ego Laizhou, outstanding people. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the broad masses of the people have worked hard for the birth of New China and the great cause of construction, and have made great contributions. In the revolutionary struggle and socialist construction, five, five, nine, six revolutionaries shed their blood, threw their heads, and gave their lives. In order to remember the high morals and outstanding achievements of the outstanding sons and daughters of China, we chose the holy land of the armed uprising on the Yuhuangding as the site, erected a monument to commemorate it, and spread it to future generations, inspiring the people to move forward courageously.

Laizhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China Laizhou Municipal People's Government
established in October 1991

The reason why the monument to the revolutionary martyrs in Laizhou is located in Yuhuangding and the inscription calls Yuhuangding a "holy land" is that Yuhuangding is of special significance to the Laizhou revolution led by the party. Yuhuangding is the place where Laizhou launched the anti-Japanese armed uprising and fired the first shot of Laizhou's armed anti-Japanese war.
　　Jiaodong Anti-Japanese Beacon Fires at Yuhuangding
Laizhou, formerly known as Ye County, is located in the northwest of Jiaodong Peninsula and is an important county along the coast of Shandong. In 1928, Wang Dingchen and Zheng Yaonan, students of the Provincial Ninth Middle School, joined the Communist Party of China. Two years later, the Ye County Committee of the Communist Party of China directly under the Shandong Provincial Party Committee was established to lead the people of Laizhou in the revolutionary struggle.
After the Lugouqiao Incident broke out in 1937, Zheng Yaonan, the former secretary of the county party committee who was wanted by the Kuomintang in exile, and Zhang Jialuo, a Communist Party member who had worked in the Northeast Army, returned to Ye County one after another and became the backbone and fresh blood of the Anti-Japanese War. In October, the County Party Committee of Ye County held a meeting, and Zhang Gallo read out the call of the Communist Party members to take off their long shirts and go to the guerrillas. In the case of losing direct contact with the higher-level party organization and not receiving direct guidance from the higher-level party organization, the party organization of Ye County consciously assumed the historical responsibility of leading the people to resist Japan and save the country in accordance with the anti-Japanese policy of the CPC Central Committee and the Shandong Provincial Party Committee.
After the October meeting, the county party Committee mobilized party members to encourage relatives and friends first, and then absorbed a large number of people to participate in the anti-Japanese armed forces in a snowball way. In less than a month, the party organized and established six anti-Japanese armed forces including the "People's Anti-Japanese Volunteer Team. In December, the Kuomintang county magistrate abandoned his post and fled, Han Fuju's army retreated hastily, and public panic spread. At this critical juncture, the Party organization of Ye County openly assumed the task of leading the Anti-Japanese War, decided to unify the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Party, absorbed the non-governmental anti-Japanese organization "Civil Resistance" of Ye County, and formed the "Mobilization Committee of the people's Resistance against the Enemy". Communist Party members occupied four of the five seats in the leadership of the "people's movement" and held the leadership of the anti-Japanese armed forces.
In January 1938, more than 3000 Japanese troops landed from Qingdao and marched north along the Yanqing Highway. On the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar, it was originally the day when the common people celebrated the Spring Festival in the year of peace. On that day, the Japanese army who occupied Ye County forced people to hold a meeting and appointed Liu Zirong, president of Ye County Chamber of Commerce, as the president of the maintenance association in public. Liu Zirong organized an armed team and set up a pseudo-county government to ban all anti-Japanese activities and organizations. The county party committee determined the task of fighting the enemy and eliminating rape, and planned to take the time of the temple fair in Ye City to enter the city in disguise to eliminate the puppet regime, but the plan was forced to suspend for some reason.
The county party committee believes that since the secret siege is not possible, it is better to launch an armed uprising in public and directly attack the city. This is the first time that the Party organization in Ye County has led an armed uprising. For the sake of safety, it has made two preparations for the success and failure of the uprising. The county party committee has arranged two sets of teams for this purpose: Zheng Yaonan led some party members to launch an uprising, and Zhang Gallo led some party members to lurk in places. If the uprising fails, Zheng Yaonan will lead his troops to fight guerrillas in the mountainous areas, and Zhang Jialuo will lead his troops to carry out secret work on the spot to facilitate the troops and local support. The rich Ye County built the city wall as solid as gold, known as "the iron-hit Laizhou", the strong attack must be combined with the count. For this reason, before the uprising, two soldiers were sent to sneak into the city as internal guards. In order to prevent the puppet troops from seeking foreign help, the long-distance telephone lines from the city to Qingdao, Yantai and Weixian were cut off in advance.
On the night of March 8, more than 400 members of the uprising troops gathered at Yuhuangding. After the siege order was issued, the troops surrounded the four gates of Ye City. Due to his arrest, the city gate could not be opened until 8: 00 a.m. on the 9th. Zheng Yaonan decided to launch both a military offensive and a political offensive and organized troops to shout into the city together. Slogans such as "the Chinese do not fight the Chinese, the Chinese should unite to fight the devils" and "don't work for the devils any more" resounded around Ye City. Under the powerful offensive, the pseudo-security captain opened the door from inside the city. The troops captured the county seat and captured the pseudo county magistrate alive. The uprising was victorious. The Yuhuangding Uprising profoundly changed the pattern of the Anti-Japanese War in Jiaodong and was an important part of the Shandong Anti-Japanese Armed Uprising.
　　A New Page of Jiaodong Anti-Japanese War
After the Yuhuangding uprising, in order to meet the needs of the new struggle situation, the "civilian movement" was changed to "the third detachment of Jiaodong Anti Japanese guerrillas". In the face of foreign invasion, many people with patriotic sentiments are determined to establish anti-Japanese armed groups. These groups started with one or two or three or five people, and gradually reached dozens of people, and then hundreds of thousands of people. At first, they had no military training, no struggle experience, and inferior weapons and equipment, but they held the belief that everyone in the world is responsible for the rise and fall of the world, and the trickle finally merged into a powerful force for the whole nation to resist the war. From March 9 to the end of April, the three detachments grew to 3,000 700 or 800, becoming the largest anti-Japanese armed forces in Jiaodong at that time.
As soon as the three detachments were established, they realized the importance of strong leadership and strict discipline. They pointed out in the propaganda outline, "Although it is composed of ordinary people, it is by no means a rabble, and it is by no means aimless and unconscious. Because resisting Japan and saving the country is by no means a joke. Without strong leadership, strict organization, and the resolute courage and sacrifice of each element, he does not have to wait for the enemy to destroy it, and he will collapse himself". The party pays attention to ideological party building and political army building. The brigade has generally established party branches and political commissaries held by Communist Party members, and gradually built the three detachments into a new type of anti-Japanese armed forces led by the party. The three detachments have established iron discipline, emphasizing "never infringe upon the common people". The army has a close relationship with the common people, pointing out that "the interests they represent are the interests of the common people" and "the guerrillas and the common people are originally a family".
After the victory of the Yuhuangding Uprising, the Anti-Japanese Democratic Government of Ye County was established. This is not only the first anti-Japanese democratic regime in Jiaodong, but also the first anti-Japanese democratic regime east of Jinpu Road in Shandong. The uprising fundamentally changed the situation of the Jiaodong Anti-Japanese War and formed a separatist regime in which the two largest anti-Japanese armed forces led by the party stood side by side in the east and west of Jiaodong, with the three detachments formed by the Yuhuangding uprising in the west and the third army formed by the Tianfushan uprising in the east, which played an important strategic role in opening up the Jiaodong anti-Japanese base in the future. In August 1938, the westward Third Army was formally co-organized with the three detachments. In September, the name was changed to the Fifth Detachment of the Shandong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla of the Eighth Route Army. In December, the Shandong column of the Eighth Route Army was established, and the fifth detachment was renamed the fifth detachment of the Shandong column of the Eighth Route Army, which changed from a scattered guerrilla to a part of a guerrilla regiment with unified command strategically. In the same month, the Jiaodong Special Committee held the first Jiaodong District Party Member Congress in Ye County, and elected the Jiaodong District Committee of the Communist Party of China. Ye County became the center of the Jiaodong War of Resistance. The new democratic revolution led by the Party in Jiaodong has opened a new page.
The Yuhuangding Uprising is an important chapter of the Anti-Japanese War in Laizhou, Jiaodong and Shandong, which embodies the great anti-Japanese spirit. Inspired by this spirit, the people of Laizhou waged an indomitable struggle for national independence and the liberation of the people. during the war of resistance against japanese aggression, more than 14900 people joined the army in laizhou and 2027 people died. During the War of Liberation, Laizhou launched a total of 18 times to join the army, more than 34450 people joined the army, and 2947 people died, making great contributions to the victory of the War of Liberation.

Source: Learning Times