Seventeen kilometers northwest of Ciping Town in Jinggangshan, Huangyangjie stands 1,438 meters above sea level, the most famous of Jinggangshan’s five major strategic passes (Shuangmashi, Tongmuling, Zhushachong, Bamian Mountain and Huangyangjie). Linking the Hunan-Jiangxi border, it boasts precipitous, towering terrain.

On August 30, 1928, the famed Huangyangjie Defense Battle unfolded here. Outnumbered Red Army troops with less than one battalion’s strength repelled frantic assaults by four enemy regiments, achieving the People’s Army’s first major victory against overwhelming odds. Overjoyed by the triumph, Mao Zedong composed his immortal ci poem Xijiang Moon · Jinggangshan to commemorate this glorious battle. Standing on the site, visitors can almost hear the thunderous artillery fire of the war years. Poet Chen Yunhe captured the moment in his verse Ode to Huangyangjie: