【Red Yantai in Old Photos 】Jiaodong Golden Secret Transport Party Central Committee

Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province, has been known for its abundant production of gold since ancient times. There are more than 2000 exploitable gold veins and over 1000 ancient mines distributed within its jurisdiction, among which the most famous is the Linglong Gold Mine. On February 28, 1939, the Japanese army occupied the Linglong Gold Mine and carried out a crazy plunder of the gold resources in Jiaodong. In order to compete for the gold resources in Jiaodong, the Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China established the "Jiaodong Gold Working Committee", whose main tasks were to "seize gold from the tiger's mouth" and "secretly deliver gold". During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, the Jiaodong base area made special and important contributions to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation by secretly sending 430000 taels of gold to the Communist Party of China's Shandong Branch, Northern Branch, and Central Committee through the "Bohai Corridor" and "Coastal Corridor" routes, using methods such as military secret delivery, meeting escorts, and secret bank transfers.

(Panoramic view of Linglong Gold Mine)

During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Liberation War, our party's funds were extremely scarce, especially the urgent demand for gold. Gold became a key factor in the success or failure of the party's leadership in the revolutionary cause to a certain extent. The urgent need of the Party, the abundance of gold veins in Jiaodong, and the desire of foreign powers to divide it were important historical backgrounds for the secret delivery of gold in Jiaodong. After accepting the task, the Jiaodong District Party Organization immediately established and improved the leadership structure for gold mining, and quickly dispatched personnel to the key production area of Zhaoyuan for secret planning.

(Former Site of "Zhaoyuan Gold Mining Management Committee")

The first fundraising channel is to directly control the gold mine and organize miners to mine gold. The Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China secretly established gold mines in the liberated areas and enemy occupied areas. There were secret gold mines founded by our party in Jiuqu, Oujiaqian, Jinqiangou, Hutougou and other places in the Luoshan area. At its peak, there were over 200 mining sites and more than 30000 people were involved in gold production. In February 1939, the largest gold mine in Zhaoyuan, the Linglong Gold Mine, was seized by the Japanese, while other smaller mining areas were controlled by the local security forces of the Kuomintang. In order to raise more funds, the anti Japanese democratic regime decided to secretly control the gold mines and unite the workers and masses to mine gold. In the winter of 1939, Su Jiguang, the director of the Jiaodong District Workers' Anti Japanese Salvation Federation, received a task to raise gold in Zhaoyuan. Su Jiguang first disguised himself as a miner and integrated into the mining team of Canzhuang Gold Mine, becoming the backbone. Then, in the name of "special envoy" Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater Command, he came to convey the "instructions" of the military command headquarters, forcing the mine owner Sun Wuben to voluntarily withdraw from the Canzhuang Gold Mine area. Soon after, the 14th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army entered the area, and the Canzhuang Gold Mine was controlled by the Eighth Route Army. Afterwards, the Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China allocated 15000 yuan to establish the Jinqiangou Gold Mine and another 50000 yuan for the Longxing Gold Mine. At the same time, the bidding method will be adopted to lease mining rights to external mining sites and purchase gold in a centralized manner.

The second channel for raising funds is to carry out anti plundering struggles and seize gold from the hands of the enemy. In June 1941, the Communist Party of China's Jiaodong District Committee's gold grabbing team secretly infiltrated the enemy occupied Linglong Gold Mine and formulated a series of action plans. Underground party member Jiang Xuan infiltrated the selection plant of Linglong Gold Mine and implemented the "Tiger Mouth Gold Grab" plan. Together with the miners, he used various clever methods to transport the gold powder out of the mine. In order to quickly raise more gold and combat the enemy's arrogance, he also adopted a more direct way to seize the gold and armed intercept Japanese gold transport vehicles. From 1939 to the spring of 1944, the military and the people of Jiaodong cooperated closely. They ambushed the Japanese gold carriers for many times at Shabu Village, Xiaoli Family, Zhang Xing, Huaishuzhuang, Mount Huangshan Pavilion, Zhanghua Mountain Head and other places along the Longzhao Highway, blew up more than 30 enemy vehicles, destroyed more than 200 Japanese puppet troops, and captured a large number of rich ores, gold concentrates, military supplies, production and other materials.

(The former site of Linglongtong Cave during the Japanese puppet period)

The third fundraising channel is to establish underground purchasing stations and collect funds from the public. The Jiaodong Party organization has established an underground purchasing station responsible for purchasing gold, which competes with Japanese invaders and private merchants in various forms to purchase gold. In the Linglong area alone, 50-60 taels of gold can be purchased every week. In 1942, our party's underground purchasing station acquired 3188 taels of gold. During the War of Liberation, the People's Government basically had full control over the purchase of gold. From 1946 to 1949, the entire county produced and purchased 228571 taels of gold, 37100 taels of silver, and 30251 silver dollars, all of which were handed over, making outstanding contributions to supporting the Liberation War.

After raising gold, how to transport it from Jiaodong to the central government became a difficult problem. Therefore, the Jiaodong Special Committee of the Communist Party of China and the troops led by the Jiaodong Communist Party formed batches of gold transport teams, crossing the battlefield of gunfire and the Kuomintang stubborn faction's control area, secretly delivering the gold to the Shandong Party organization's headquarters in Lunan District, and then transferring or directly delivering it to the Party Central Committee. Due to the constraints of the war environment, there are different routes for transporting gold at different times. Between 1939 and 1943, the main route was through the "Bohai Corridor", starting from the border areas of Pingdu, Zhaoyuan, Laiyang, and Yexian in Jiaodong, passing through the Jiaolai River, Changyi, the northern coastal areas of Weixian, Shouguang County in Qinghe District, and other counties, and then crossing the Jiaoji Railway to enter Luzhong District, Yimeng Mountain District, and the Shandong Branch; After the autumn of 1944, due to the opening of transportation lines between Jiaodong and the coastal areas, the Shengjin Road Line was changed from the "Bohai Corridor" to the "Binhai Passage", which means passing through the railway from Jiaoxian and Gaomi, and directly reaching the location of the Shandong branch through counties such as Zhucheng in the Binhai area.

During the 6-year long 'Golden War', a large amount of gold was transported from Jiaodong to Yan'an. In this long journey, the army and the people united as one, not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice, and forged an indestructible "gold defense line". There was never a shortage of more than half a pair of gold, let alone a person who defected with gold. Every one or two grams of gold were handed over to the Party Central Committee. An old soldier who participated in the transportation of gold said with emotion: "Without the masses, the 'Bohai Corridor' can hardly survive for a day, and one or two pieces of gold can not be transported away." These precious gold greatly eased the financial tension of the Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia Border Region government and the Party Central Committee, and supported half of the CPC's anti Japanese funds.

Data source: Party History Research Institute of Yantai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Yantai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism