Yan'an

Yan'an is a city in Shaanxi province, China. It served as the Chinese Communist Party’s revolutionary headquarters from 1935 to 1947 and became a defining site of Communist rule and wartime politics.

Long March: The 1934–1935 retreat of Chinese Communist forces across China to escape Nationalist encirclement. The arrival of Long March survivors in northern Shaanxi established Yan'an as the party’s base.
Yan'an Rectification Movement: A 1942–1945 campaign that standardized ideology and discipline within the Chinese Communist Party. It turned the headquarters into a center for party-wide ideological scrutiny and organizational reform.
Mao Zedong: A Chinese Communist revolutionary who led the People’s Republic of China from its founding in 1949 until his death in 1976. He emerged as the party’s dominant leader during the Yan'an years.
Second United Front: The 1937–1945 wartime alliance between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist government against Japan. The alliance expanded Communist influence while Yan'an remained its political center.
Chinese Civil War: The armed struggle between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist government, fought chiefly from 1927 to 1949. Yan'an became the Communists’ headquarters during a major phase of this conflict.
Mass line: A Chinese Communist Party principle of gathering popular views, synthesizing them, and returning them as policy. Yan'an leaders promoted it as a method for linking party decisions to rural communities.
Zhou Enlai: A Chinese Communist revolutionary and statesman who served as premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1976. He helped represent and organize the party leadership based at Yan'an.
Chinese Revolution: The political and social transformation that brought the Chinese Communist Party to power in 1949. Yan'an was a formative base from which the party developed strength before its victory.
Chinese Soviet Republic: A Communist-led state established in Jiangxi in 1931 and dismantled by Nationalist campaigns in 1934. Its collapse forced Communist forces to retreat before settling in Yan'an.
Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art: A 1942 meeting at which Mao Zedong set out principles for literature and art serving revolutionary politics. The forum articulated how cultural production should support the party’s work at Yan'an.

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Agnes SmedleyBroader topic: Smedley reported from Yan'an and described communist leaders and wartime society there.