User:TianHaaWaiGung/Qiongya Soviet Government

The Qiongya Soviet Government, also referred to simply as the Qiongya Soviet, was a Chinese soviet situated on Hainan Island, then a part of Guangdong Province. Initially strongly associated with their mainland counterparts, the Qiongya Soviet would find itself increasingly isolated in the geographic center of the island following encirclement campaigns by the Nationalists and later the Japanese Empire. Creating an alliance with the island's non-Han ethnic minorities, the government largely ran independently from mainland Chinese Communist and Republican influences alike. Their military, the Hainan Independent Column, led by Party Secretary and Chairman Feng Baijiu, would assist the People's Liberation Army in the Battle of Hainan Island, contributing to the defeat of the remaining Nationalist forces garrisoned on the island. The government would be formally incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1950.

Early Communist Influences
The origins of communism on Hainan would be rooted in the desire to establish democracy and self-governance for the people of the island. Attached to the larger Guangdong Province on the mainland, local Hainanese–especially after the failure of Second Revolution and Yuan Shikai's crackdown on opposition–would feel the desire to establish self-governance for the island as envisioned by Sun Yat-sen's initial plans to separate the island into its province following the Xinhai Revolution.

Two prominent intellectuals of this era were newspaper editors, Lin Wenying (1873-1914) and Xu Chengshan (1982-1928). Both were Hainanese members of the Tongmenghui and founded the Qiongdao Ribao and Qiongya Xianbao respectively. The Thai-born Lin was a respected Hainanese revolutionary who participated in the Xinhai Revolution but was jailed and executed by Yuan after choosing to stay in Hainan after the failure of the Second Revolution. Xu would prove to be more localist following a failed merger of the Qiongdao Ribao and Qiongya Xianbo following Lin's death, focusing on the corruption of local leadership while remaining dedicated to a national revolution. In 1923 he joined the Chinese Communist Party and began recruiting local Hainanese to the cause of championing the class struggle.

The Northern Expedition
By 1922, control of Guangdong was contested between the warlord Chen Jiongming and Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang, and the island of Hainan itself was under the control of Deng Benyi, a warlord subservient to Chen. Utilizing anti-opposition and anti-communist rhetoric, Deng would rule Hainan under an iron fist, successfully crushing social movements amongst the local peasantry and ethnic minorities.

With the beginning of the Northern Expedition following Sun's victory over Chen, United Front forces would conquer Hainan and expel Deng in 1925. With the control of the island falling into the hands of the nominally cooperative Nationalist forces, labor unions and peasant organizations would rapidly grow, reaching a shared 100,000 members by late 1926. In the same year, the Chinese Communist Party would officially host its first Party Representative Assembly.

White Terror
Following a split along ideological lines of the First United Front, Chiang Kai-shek launched the Shanghai Massacre in April 1927 and officially began purging communists and leftist sympathizers. The previously urbanized powerbase of the CCP on Hainan would be forced to evacuate to the countryside before the party headquarters were raided in Haikou.

In June, following the retreat from the cities, Hainanese Communists would regroup in Lehui County (now Qionghai City) to establish central leadership, electing Party Secretary Wang Wenming and Yang Shanji to positions of leadership. Mobilizing and realigning their goals to expanding membership and repelling the Nationalists, Wang and Yang would successfully bring membership in the Party to over 15,000 members by the time of the Nanchang Uprising, and had compiled enough arms to begin a serious revolt against the Kuomintang.

Early Engagements
By September 1927, Hainanese Communist militias had begun to engage the National Revolutionary Army on the island, most notably in the Battle of the Coconut Stockade, in which communist forces would manage to route NRA forces near Qionghai. However, only a skeleton force was garrisoned at the stockade following the communist victory, and a Nationalist counterattack would claim the lives of the small contingent ordered to protect the facility, including Yang Shanji.

First Encirclement Campaign
Though the Communists had managed a strong base of power in the geographic north of Hainan, they failed to capitalize on sympathetic workers in the south and disagreed with leadership decisions out of Guangzhou. Amongst the controversial decisions made by the mainland CCP would be the appointment of Huang Xuezeng (1900-1929) to the leadership of the local Communist forces. Despite these setbacks, however, Communist forces would manage to connect rural territories in Lingshui, Sanya, and Wanning, and the Qiongya Revolutionary Base Area was established in February 1928.

As a non-islander and proponent of urban warfare strategy, Huang would be unpopular amongst native communist leadership on the island. After failing to rally an attack on Haikou, Huang was betrayed to the Nationalist forces and executed in June of 1929, after being captured following a failed defense of Qionghai City. Following the failure of urban tactics and the beginning of the First Encirclement Campaign under the direction of warlord Cai Tingkai, Wang Wenming would reassume leadership over the Hainanese Communists, retreating with about a few hundred other Party members to Murui Mountain, east of Qionghai. The remaining communists outside of this contingent had either deserted or reabsorbed themselves into the Republican government.

Neishandong Conference
After regrouping with Feng Baijiu following Huang's execution, the 1929 Neishandong Conference, hosted near the site of the original Coconut Stockades, would establish a Special Committee to lead the governing of Communist forces on the island. Though gravely ill, Wang would be elected to the leadership of the party as secretary, with Feng Baijiu as successor-designate.

Wang Wenming's rule over the Qiongya Soviet would only last two years, as he would succumb to natural causes in early 1930. His efforts to hold off a counteroffensive following the White Terror yielded success. By May of 1920, his successor, Feng, would be prepared to confront Nationalist armies in the so-called "Red May" offensive.

Second Qiongya Soviet Government
Feng Baijiu would ascend to the leadership position as Party Secretary following the passing of Wang Wenming. Immediately following Wang Wenming's passing, Feng would seek passage to Hong Kong to meet both the Party Committees of Guangdong and Shanghai. Zhou Enlai would advise Feng to maintain support from the masses to preserve power.

Following his return to Qiongya, Feng Baijiu launched the "Red May" offensive, targeting the coastal regions of Eastern Qionghai. Capitalizing on the NRA troop reorganizations following the end of Cai Tingkai's First Encirclement Campaign, the Red May Offensive managed to reclaim prior territories held by the soviet, bringing up the number of troops to 1,300 by the end of 1930. As membership in the Hainan Red Army was not limited to men, the all-female Red Detachment of Women would be established the following year, at which time the army had risen once more to 2,000 strong.

It is also possible that a dispute between mainland Chinese Communists and the Qiongya Soviet erupted around this time: another mainland official meant to advise the Hainanese Communists, Li Shuoxun, was reported to the KMT soon after his arrival on the island. Increasingly localist and anti-urban strategy would be a hallmark of Feng Baijiu's military strategy on the island. Internal purges of the Qiongya Soviet under the Anti-Bolshevik League incident would also lead to a further consolidation of power within the hands of Feng, who by 1931 had established himself as the definitive leader.

Second Encirclement Campaign
The Nationalist government, aware of the recent growth of the Qiongya Soviet, would launch the Second Encirclement Campaign against them in 1931. Led by Chen Hanguang, this encirclement campaign proved to be more successful, and by 1932 the Qiongya Soviet once again found itself isolated back into Murui Mountain. As the Nationalists advanced further into the mountain, the Communists were forced to retreat further into the wilderness. Surviving merely off of nature and with the NRA in pursuit, only 26 members of the soviet, including Feng, would manage to escape in April 1933. Slowly rebuilding forces amongst the peasantry over the next few years, Feng would create a fledgling army of about 60 soldiers and 200 reserves by the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Under orders from the island's governor, Chen Jitang (unrelated), Chen Hanguang would also launch campaigns against the province's ethnic minorities, notably the Li and Miao peoples. Regarded as backwards by the mainstream coastal Han leadership, these ethnic minorities would find mutual alliance with the Communist forces.

Interim Authority
Feng Baijiu arrested in 1937 because CCP told him to keep fighting the nationalists, Wang Bailun and Lin Liming serve as interim leaders until his release

Second Sino-Japanese War
In November 1941, Qiongya Soviet renamed to Anti-Japanese Democratic Government, cooperates with nationalists.

Resumption of Chinese Civil War
More info on Battle of Hainan Wiki page

Remnants of Qionghai government fight nationalists after alliance dissolved, Hainan Independent Column helps mainlanders the ROC holdouts near the coast, and formally reunite with the PRC. Remaining entities absorbed into PLA, government becomes municipality and is dissolved.

Infrastructure
Quality of life extremely poor, some history on that

Education
A few schools established under the guidance of Zhou Enlai.

Legacy
Female troops story becomes popular throughout the country, Feng Baijiu climbs the ranks but is purged over time.

Links for sources
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E9%A6%AE%E7%99%BD%E9%A7%92 everything necessary to know about Feng Baijiu (check the purple links within his zh.wikipedia page)

http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0621/c85037-30070304.html everything necessary to know about Wang Wenming and early government (has photo of him)

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202205/17/WS6283485aa310fd2b29e5d365.html broad history

http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2022/0509/c443712-32417363.html everything necessary about encirclement campaigns

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202106/03/WS60b82ea2a31024ad0bac34be.html everything necessary about female ballet troop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Wang_Wenming for Wang Wenming article when the time comes

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E8%A7%A3%E6%94%BE%E5%86%9B%E7%90%BC%E5%B4%96%E7%BA%B5%E9%98%9F more purple links, all about military campaigns

https://web.archive.org/web/20160817122148/http://www.hinews.cn/news/system/2011/05/02/012433084.shtml More about Hainan Independent Column

https://escholarship.org/content/qt54p976k7/qt54p976k7_noSplash_166c816cd3de9e670089abf9acf41e9d.pdf Most important source, contemporary history stuff by Murray guy

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25188331?seq=20 More history stuff (AB = Anti-Bolshevik)

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28792/1/10672960.pdf (previous pdf history but further expanded)

https://www.hainan.gov.cn/hainan/whwdzgzl70ns/202004/83a125ba96d34192ac0fb881acae4bab.shtml (photo with money and stuff)