The town of
YAN'AN , set deep in the bleakly attractive dry loess hills of northern Shaanxi, has very little in common with the other cities of this province. Geographically and temperamentally it belongs with the high industrial cities of Shanxi rather than the ancient capitals of the Yellow River plain; however, the only easy way to get here is on the train or bus from Xi'an, 250km to the south. The town is a quiet backwater, and walking its dour streets it's hard to imagine that, as the headquarters of the Communist Party in the 1930s and early 1940s, this was once one of China's most popular tourist spots, a major revolutionary pilgrimage site second only to Mao's birthplace at Shaoshan. In the changed political climate, with enthusiasm for the Party waning (and no longer compulsory), it's now hardly different from any other northern town, rarely visited except by groups of PLA soldiers and the odd ideologue.
There's nothing spectacular about the sights, unless the fact that Mao and Co. were once here is enough to inspire awe by itself, but some insight into China's modern history is given not just by the Revolutionary Museum , but by the town centre, built during the tourist boom, an example of utilitarian 1950s and 1960s architecture , and by the slopes around, which are full of traditional Shaanxi cave houses . There is something perversely attractive in the town's grimness, which, together with the beauty of the surrounding countryside, makes it worth a day trip from Xi'an.
The Town
After the ride here through the ribbed loess hills, one of China's most glorious landscapes, arrival is a disappointment as Yan'an presents a Stalinist frown to the visitor. Arranged in a Y-shape around the confluence of the east and west branches of the Yan River, the town is a narrow strip of brutalist breeze-block architecture, about 7km long, hemmed in by steep hills. Ironically, the centre conforms to Cold War clichés of communist austerity, with streets lined with identical apartment buildings of crumbling grey concrete, plagued by frequent electricity cuts and water shortages. The town's margins are much more attractive, as the dour buildings give way to caves, and windowless houses built to look like caves, on the slopes around.
In the northeast corner of town, the Revolutionary Museum (daily 8am-5pm; ¥10), has something of the aura of a shrine, and a sculpture depicting revolutionary struggle inside, opposite the entrance, has offerings of money in front of it. The huge halls hold a massive collection of artefacts; curatorial policy seems to be that anything that was in the town between the years of 1935 and 1949 is now worth exhibiting. Relics include deflated footballs, sewing machines, rusty mugs and hundreds of guns and hand grenades. There is a stuffed white horse that is said to have once carried Mao, and translations of books by Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky in Chinese. There are no English labels, and the things of most interest to non-Chinese speakers are probably the propaganda pictures, which include wood and paper cuts of Red Army soldiers helping peasants in the fields. The walls of the halls are covered with photographs taken at the time, and sinologists can amuse themselves by trying to match the portraits of awkwardly posed, youthful, fresh-faced figures, identically dressed in Mao suits, to the octogenarian leaders of late twentieth-century China.
The Wangjiaping Revolutionary Headquarters (daily 8am-5pm: ¥7) is just around the corner from the museum, but can be hard to find - turn immediately left as you leave the museum compound and walk 200m down a small path that seems to lead into a village. The headquarters, a compound of low buildings, is on the right, marked by a faded signpost. It's a remarkably low-key approach to what was not long ago one of the most visited tourist spots in the country, the place where Mao, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De among others, lived and worked. More worthwhile than the museum, the simple, low buildings of white plaster over straw, mud and brick, typical of traditional local architecture, are elegant structures, with wooden lattice windows faced with paper, sometimes incorporating the communist star into their design. The complex has a rather monastic feel. The arched rooms, with cups sitting on the table and bedding still on the beds, as if their inhabitants will soon return, have the simplicity of monks' cells, and the main hall, an unadorned timber building with wooden benches lined up in rows before a platform, is reminiscent of a prayer hall. Occasionally the place is host to groups of PLA soldiers, who start their tour by marching into the courtyard, unfolding collapsible chairs, and listening to a lecture, but most of the time the compound is deserted and boarded up. There isn't even a souvenir stall, though the attendants do sell a single book in Chinese with plenty of photos from the period (¥10).
Proceed across the river towards the train station to get to the Fenghuangshan Revolutionary Headquarters (daily 8am-5pm; ¥5). At the end of a side road off Zhangxin Jie between the post office and Yan'an Binguan, this served as the initial residence of the Communists. The two main rooms in the western courtyard functioned as Mao's bedroom and study, and still house his furniture - a wooden bed, a desk with chairs and a latrine - as well as a collection of letters and photos of Communist officers, all of which are labelled in Chinese only. Two souvenir shops sell reproductions of anything to do with the period - mostly tacky offerings including singing Mao lighters.
Standing on a hill in the southeast corner of town on the east bank of the river, the Ming-dynasty Baota Pagoda (daily 8am-5pm; ¥10) is sometimes used as a symbol of the Communist Party. The route here is circuitous, as you have to double back a long way on the leg of the "Y" to find a bridge to cross the river. It's an extra ¥3 to ascend the nine flights of narrow stairs. High above the town, the pagoda commands an impressive view of its angular planes and the ragged hills, pocked with caves, beyond. Outside, tourists can pose for photographs dressed up in the blue and grey military uniforms of the first Communist soldiers, complete with red armband and wooden gun.
From the hill it's possible to see other revolutionary sites dotted around town - look for the red flags - but they're mainly bridges and the sites of buildings since disappeared. A more diverting excursion can be had outside the town, tramping round the surrounding hills and cave villages
