In the strip of land dividing the two provinces of Jiangxi and Hu'nan in central China lies the Jinggang Mountains which is actually the middle section of the Luoxiao Mountain Range. Extending some 40 km from Nashan in the east to Shuikou in the west and about 45 km from Maoping in the north to Huang'ao in the south, the Jinggang Mountains, as the Chinese say, "covers 500 li". That is to say, it covers an extensive area. There are some 500 peaks in the region, of different heights but every one more than 1 000 metres above sea level. While rich in natural resources, the region enjoys a mild climate, with plenty of rainfall. In summer the weather is rather changeable when thunderstorms are a common occurrence. The sky may be blue and serene one moment and overcast the next. It is not rare that while it is "pouring with rain in the village to the east it is fine and bright in the one to the west'. At the turn of winter, it is mostly foggy weather with the peaks often shrouded in swirling mist and cloud. Sometimes when the lower peaks are still veiled in mist and fog, the higher ones are already basking in the sun. such a sight is enchanting, with mountain peaks of diverse shapes half hidden in mist and fog and half lit up by glowing, multi-hued clouds-a play of contrasting lights that perhaps is only found in pictures.
Five of the settled areas in the region are known as the "Five Wells" or Wu'Jing. They are respectively Da'Jing or Big Well, Xiao'Jing or Small Well, Zhong'Jing or Middle Well, Shang'Jing or Upper Well and Xia'Jing or Lower Well. These are the names of five small mountain villages situated in five small-size basins in the midst of the surrounding peaks. As to why these villages should be called wells, some say that as they are all located in a hole of a depressed area and surrounded on all sides by sky-kissing peaks, they look in physical terms like wells and that is why they are so named. Others say this is not true, as at the beginning they were indeed called villages rather than wells. But then there was a very bad year when the villages were unable to pay any taxes and rents. So they submitted an appeal to the emperor in which they described their poverty, saying their villages were no larger than a well, and asking to be exempted from all taxes. When the emperor read the appeal, he graciously granted tax exemption to "the five wells". From then on, it is said, the five villages changed their names to "to Five Wells". Actually not only are these five villages as small as a well but the other settlements too, such as Taoliao and Mayuan, are all tiny, well-size spots. Even the two well-known townships of Ciping and Maoping are of small size too. All of these settlements are thin strips of land, sometimes in the shape of an oval, reclaimed from the mountain slopes or ravines. In this sense, the inhabitants of the Jinggang Mountains are indeed most industrious and intelligent. They are pioneers in the true sense of the word.

In October, 1927, the insurgent army led by Mao Zedong arrived at the Jinggang Mountains after what is known as the Autumn Harvest Uprising and set up here the first revolutionary base are in China. The following year, he was joined by Zhu De and Chen Yi with what was left of their army after the failed Nanchang Uprising. Thus was established what is known as the Fourth Army of the Chinese Red Army. From then on, the army and the people in the Jinggang Mountains, under the leadership of Mao Zedong and Zhu De, staged a series of vigorous and bitter struggles against the Kuomintang regime out of which was evolved the famous strategy of first seizing and consolidating the rural areas and then tightening the ring of encirclement around the cities before finally overturning the existent regime in the country. Those years of bitter struggle have left many historic sites and relics on the Jinggang Mountains about which many stories and anecdotes have been in circulation.

In August, 1927 while Mao Zedong was away from the Jinggang Mountains on a trip to Yongxin, some leaders in the base area, disregarding the resolutions passed by the Military Committed, yielded to the desire of some war-weary officers and men in the 29th Regiment to have no more of the bitter struggle and hard life in the mountains and to go back and fight in their own home province of Hunan. They ordered the 28th and the 29th Regiment to march into Hunan against hopeless odds, which ended in the complete destruction of the 29th Regiment. This is known as "the August Defeat" in the history of the Chinese Communist Party.

Now that the Red Army was seriously weakened, with less than a battalion of men on the Jinggang Mountains, the Kuomintang army from both Jiangxi and Hunan launched an attack at dawn on August 30 on the mountain stronghold. Inspired by deep hatred against their common enemy, the Red Army men and the local inhabitants put up a brave and tenacious resistance. Making full use of topographical advantages, they beat back one enemy assault after another, relying on whatever weapons they had at hand, stones, timber, and what not. Even women and youngsters joined in the defence, woring as stretcher-bearers, ammunition carriers, water suppliers, etc. The battle went on like this for two days on end. Then on the third day, the local Hunan warlord He Jian came himself to the front to direct the attack, concentrating the Kuomintang forces on the strategic spot known as Huangyanjie. At the time, the Red Army had only a single 82mm mortar with two rounds of ammunition. As the situation was desperate, they fired the two rounds at the enemy concentration. Taken by surprise, the Kuomintang Army were frightened out of their wits, thinking that Mao Zedong must have come back with reinforcements. They beat a hurried retreat then.

When he herad of the defeaft suffered by the 28th and 29th Regiment, Mao Zedong came himself to salvage the situation. With a battalion of men from the 31st Regiment he succeeded in gathering together what was left of the 28th Regiment which he himself then led back to the Jinggang Mountains. When he was briefed about the victory won at Huangyangjie, he was enormously delighted and composed a ci-poem to commemorate the victory. This is the poem known as "The Jinggang Mountains-to the melody of Xijiangyue". In October, 1977, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Founding of the revolutionary base area in the Jinggang Mountains, a monument was set up at Huangyangjie. Towering over the densely-wooded pass with fleecy clouds scudding all around, the monument bears the fifty characters of the above-mentioned ci-poem by Mao Zedong, graven deep and gilded. An English translation published by the Foreign Language Press in Beijing reads as follows:
Below the hills fly our flags an dbanners,
Above the hilltops sound our bugles and drums.
The foe encircles us thousands strong,
Steadfastly we stand our ground.
Already our defence is iron-clad,
Now our wills unite like a fortress.
From Huangyangjie roars the thunder of guns,
Word comes that the enemy has fled into the night.

Ciping, considered the heart of the Jinggang Mountains, is a small-size basin in the rugged hills. Covering a mere 50 acres, it occupies an important strategic position with five rugged mountain passes scattered around it. They are Huangyangjie, Baminashan, Shuangmashi, Zhushachong and Tongmuling, each overlooking a main entrance and exit route of the Jinggang Mountains. Now, however, Ciping has become a busy and bustling place with department stores, hospitals, theatres, guest houses and a museum of the history of the Chinese revolution, etc., all of them being considerably large architectural structures. Overlooking Ciping on a towering peak to the north stands a memorial tower dedicated to the revolutionary martyrs that had given their lives in defnce of the Jinggang Mountains. Once a small village, Ciping is now a brand new mountain town.

At Maoping, one can make a visit to the sites of the former Red Army Hospital, the drill gounds of the army, their barracks, so to say, and the former dwelling place of Mao Zedong. Known as Ba'Jiao'Lou or the Eight-sided Tower, this is where you would be told the following touching story. One early morning in late Autumn, Mao Zedong met his old landlord who was up and about without a padded coat. So he said to the old man, "It's pretty cold today. You should have something warmer on." To this the old man replied, " To tell the truth, I do not own a padded coat." Without a word, Mao walked into his own room and came back with a padded coat for his old landlord. The old man was touched, but he said, "But Commissar Mao, you need it for yourself." Mao smiled and said, "Don't worry. I have another for myself." Then the old man put on the padded coat. It was only some days later that he discovered that Mao himself had on three unlined shirts as he had only one padded coat himself.

In an article written by Mao Zedong during his days on the Jinggang Mountains, there is the following statement: "The local armed forces consisted only of the two units under Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo in the vicinity of the Jinggang Mountains, each with 60 guns in poor repair." Mao Zedong decided to consolidate the base area by persuading local armed forces to join hands with the Red Army and through reform become a part of the revolutionary army. The man who was sent by Mao Zedong to negotiate with the local armed forces was He Changgong, a returned student from France and after 1949 the Minister of Geology in the new Chinese government. When He was told about the mission, he asked Mao, " How many men are going with me?" To this Mao said in reply, "You go alone. And you are to be Wang Zuo's errand boy." Thus the French-educated Communist left the base area and went single-handedly up the mountains to meet Wang Zuo. Later he rendered the latter a big service and succeeded in convincing him of the sincerity of the Red Army. Under these circumstances, Wang agreed to have his men reorganized into the Red Army.

When Zhu De arrived at the Jinggang Mountains one year after Mao Zedong with his insurgent army, the latter vacated his own room and asked Zhu De to move in. together they mapped out strategies and tactics for the Red Army. Under their joint command, the Red Army succeeded in crushing one encirclement campaign after another organized by the Kuomintang forces. Mao Zedong and Zhu De also led the armymen and local inhabitants in transporting, actually using only shoulder poles, food and fodder up the mountains, thus making enemy economic blockade ineffectual.

The People's Congress called by the Worker, Peasant and Soldier Government of Hunan and Jiangxi and held in the Memorial Temple of Lord Xie is the prototype of the National People's Congress in China today. It was in the Eight-sided Tower of the temple that Mao Zedong wrote such brilliant articles of his as "Why Is It That Red Political Power Can Exist in China?", "The Struggle in the Jinggang Mountains" and "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire". In these articles he charted graphically the course the Chinese revolution was to follow.

The Jinggang Mountains offers a good summer resort as well as many historic sites of the Chinese revolution. The great scenic charm of the region and the fact that it is being hallowed by great historic events have led tens of thousands of tourists, both Chinese and foreign, to visit the Jinggang Mountains each year.

Other places of historical and cultural interest in Jiangxi Province include Lu'Shan or Mount Lu near the City of Jiujiang and Teng'Wang'Ge or the Tower of Prince Teng in the City of Nanchang.