Nanchang Uprising

On August 1, 1927, Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, Zhu De, and Liu Bocheng led an armed riot in Nanchang with more than 20,000 men from the Northern Expedition under the control or influence of the Communist Party. This uprising fired the first shot of the Communist Party of China's armed resistance against the reactionary rule of the KMT.

The purpose of the Nanchang Uprising was to resist the massacre policy of the KMT reactionaries, to awaken the masses of Chinese people, and to demonstrate the firm stand of the Communist Party of China to carry out the Chinese Revolution to the end. The CPC aimed to unite the left wing of the KMT who were willing to make a revolution, swing their troops south to Guangdong, establish revolutionary bases, and carry out a Second Northern Expedition.

At 2 p.m. on August 1, the Nanchang Uprising began under the leadership of Zhou Enlai, He Long, Ye Ting, Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, and others. In the afternoon of that day, all of the 73rd Regiment of the 25th Division, the three battalions of the 75th Regiment, and the machine gun company of the 74th Regiment based in Mahuiling, led by Nie Rongzhen and Zhou Shidi, started the revolt and arrived in Nanchang on August 2 to concentrate the forces.

On August 2, tens of thousands of people from all walks of people from the Nanchang city gathered to celebrate the great victory of the Nanchang Uprising and the establishment of the Revolutionary Committee. After the meeting, young people from all walks of life enthusiastically joined the army, and hundreds of students alone signed up. After capturing Nanchang, the insurgents prepared to move south to seize Guangzhou and rebuild the revolutionary base in Guangdong. But on the way south, they were surrounded by superior enemy forces and suffered serious losses.

The forces that survived the uprising, led by Zhu De and Chen Yi, moved into southern Hunan and launched the South of Hunan Uprising, reaching Jinggang Mountain in April 1928 and successfully met with the troops led by Mao Zedong and formed the Fourth Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

The Nanchang Uprising fired the first shot of the armed resistance against the reactionary rule of the KMT and as well as marked the beginning of the CPC's independent leadership in the revolutionary war, the creation of a people's army, and marked the establishment of the concept of seizing political power with armed struggle.

On July 11, 1933, the Central Workers' and Peasants' Democratic Government made a resolution stipulating August 1 as the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. On June 15, 1949, the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Committee issued an order to use “August 1” as the main symbol of the flag and emblem of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Since 1949, August 1 has been designated as the Military Day of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.