Former Residence of General Zhu De

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Hi All,
Zhu De was a professional soldier who benifited from having a relatively rich uncle who was able to put him through the military academy in Yunnan. He also managed to go abroad to Europe and met Zhou Enlai who sponsored his application to join the Chinese Communist Party.
He was a great leader of men and they would endure many hardships together during The Long March, the war against Japan and finally in The Liberation of China. He was also politically astute and sided quickly with Mao ZeDong. In fact the two were almost inseparable with the peasents calling them Zhu Mao.
He was the first Commander in Chief of the P.L.A. and was a political heavyweight in the 40s and 50s
However after the affair with Peng Dehui, in which Zhu De only offered slight critisism, his card had been marked and in the 60s he was sidelined and replaced by Lin Biao. He was only saved from the struggles of The Cultural Revolution by Zhou Enlai.
He died not long before Mao at the age of 90.
A very different feel to this park compared to the others I have visited. The sights are very much spread out and the signposting is terrible, we got lost and ended up scrambling up a hillside and having to climb a fence. ??.
We stayed in Yilong which took about 5 hours on the bus from Chongqing. There are lots of hotels around the bus station all costing around 100rmb for a night. There is a minibus that goes to Ma'an, which stops outside the entrance. Half a day is just about long enough.

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