Eyuwan Soviet

The Eyuwan Soviet^[a] was a short-lived soviet government established in March 1930 by the Chinese Communist Party in the Dabie Mountains border region between Hubei, Henan, and Anhui provinces. At its height in 1931 and early 1932, the Eyuwan Soviet was the second-largest Chinese Soviet after the Central Soviet in Jiangxi. It improved the rights of women and redistributed land to poor and landless peasants. It was famously led by Zhang Guotao, a rival of Mao Zedong, who attempted to consolidate his control over Eyuwan with a series of purges. The Fourth Nationalist Encirclement Campaign defeated Eyuwan's Fourth Red Army in late 1932 and forced it to retreat westwards towards Sichuan and Shaanxi. The Soviet government ceased to function and the Communists retreated into the mountains. Despite several extermination campaigns intended to flush them out, the region remained a hotbed of Communist guerrilla activity until a truce was established in the Chinese Civil War.

The Eyuwan Soviet recruited a disproportionate number of officers and cadres for the Chinese Communists. Even in the early 1950s, over 70% of division-level commanders and higher in the People's Liberation Army were originally from this region. Nonetheless, the Soviet's association with Zhang Guotao—who left the Communist Party in 1938 and joined the Kuomintang—has damaged its historical reputation in China.

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