Victory News From Sanxiang: The Hengbao Campaign and the Liberation of Hunan

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, the new China has weathered sixty years of trials and tribulations. History is a mirror, and we can interpret it from many different angles and perspectives. One thing, however, is certain: over the past half-century and more, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, profound changes have taken place in China’s politics, economy, military, diplomacy, culture, education, science and technology, society, and people’s livelihoods. The Chinese people have stood up, and the Chinese nation now stands tall among the nations of the world. Sixty years is a short time, yet these sixty years have brought extraordinary changes to China. The land of China has undergone tremendous transformations. From the founding ceremony to the grand celebration of the sixtieth anniversary; from the three major campaigns on the economic front to becoming the world’s third-largest economy; from the three great transformations of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce to the basic establishment of a socialist market economy; from pursuing the fleeing enemy to building a powerful national defense force; from abolishing all unequal treaties to pursuing an independent and peaceful foreign policy; from the “Hundred Flowers” policy to the flourishing of cultural endeavors after institutional reform; from eradicating illiteracy to implementing the strategy of invigorating the country through science and education and building a new nation; from liberation to achieving a moderately prosperous society: in all these areas, the Chinese people have left a record of progress and composed an immortal poem. Sixty years is but a drop in the ocean of history. What exactly happened during that time, how it happened, what the process was, and what the results were are not things everyone knows clearly. Those who experienced it firsthand may remember it as vividly as yesterday, but for later generations it may be no more than an abstract idea, while memories of certain periods may be nonexistent or blurred. With this in mind, and so that young people, especially teenagers, will always remember this immortal history of the republic, we present this series, Stories of the Republic.