99-year-old in Ninghua recalls old Red Army song

At 99, Cao Dengxin can no longer remember every detail of his childhood. But he still remembers a song the Red Army taught him when he was 6.

The song told of the hardships endured by poor people and urged them to awaken and support the Red Army. "Only then can we poor people rise up," it goes.

It is a memory from Cao's childhood in Xiacao village in Ninghua county, Fujian province, which became an important base for the Red Army ahead of the Long March.

"I was only 6 when the Red Army came to our village in 1933," Cao recalled.

He remembers streets filled with Red Army soldiers dressed in gray cloth uniforms and straw sandals. They carried rifles and grenades, rolled thin quilts on their backs and wore bamboo hats.

Life was very hard. When there was no grain, the soldiers mixed rice husks with food, he said.

At the time, Ninghua was part of the Central Soviet Area and served as an important Red Army base. During the fifth anti-encirclement campaign, Red Army units moved into the county, with the Ninth Army Corps' rear headquarters stationed in Xiacao village.

Ninghua later became one of the four main departure points for the Central Red Army's Long March. In early October 1934, about 14,000 soldiers left the county and began the arduous journey that would take them thousands of kilometers across China.

The county is widely regarded as the farthest starting point of the Long March in Fujian. American journalist Edgar Snow wrote in his book Red Star Over China that the journey began from the farthest point in Fujian — often attributed to Ninghua.

Residents also provided millions of kilograms of grain and large sums of money to support the Red Army.

During the subsequent Long March, troops from Ninghua suffered devastating losses in the Battle of the Xiangjiang River in 1934, the early stage of the journey. Ultimately, only 58 of the over 6,000 Ninghua soldiers made their way to the northern Shaanxi province.

But before the troops left, the Red Army had already left a lasting imprint on villages such as Xiacao.

In 1933, Cao attended the Lenin primary school, also known as an evening school in the village. The school welcomed not only children but also young men and women who came to learn to read and write after finishing their farm work.

"Men and women should both go to school. Discrimination against women is unacceptable," Cao recalled being taught.

Women accounted for about one-third of the students, according to local accounts, and classes were taught by both villagers and Red Army cadres. It was there that Cao learned the song he can still sing today.

He also learned to write, often copying revolutionary slogans supporting the Soviet government established in the area.

Today, 34 Red Army slogans remain on the earthen walls of ancestral halls in the village, offering a physical link to the revolutionary years.

Cao receives a monthly government pension for elderly rural residents and spends much of his time at home or at the local seniors' association, watching television and keeping company with other older villagers. "Life today is much better than before," he said.