February 4, 2016
West along the G319
Gutian
The chances of finding a sleeping mat aren’t good. The hotel receptionist just shakes her head when I ask about possible camping shops, so I set off to find the G319 highway, which will take me west. This section of the route is going to be crap - cycling along a multi-lane strip with a lot of traffic - but there's no known alternative.
Longyan is full throttle at just gone nine. A sign for the G319 appears within a few minutes of leaving the hotel, but the cars are crammed so tight it is hard to get through the jam. What a contrast from when Mao was here in 1929.
Back then Longyan wasn’t just a city, but a large area where the Reds had various bases dotted around prior to the Long March. It’s said that nearly a third of the men who joined the Long March were from Longyan.
Mao Zedong had moved to the area in the late 1920s, when his rise to power was in its infancy. He'd started making a name for himself up in the remote and inaccessible range of mountains surrounding Jinggangshan. This area made a good place to hide and launch guerrilla attacks against the Nationalists. New recruits arrived, including a teenage woman named He Zezhen (AKA Gui-yuan), who became Mao’s third wife.
The growing army of Communists, numbering around 3,500 and led by Mao Zedong and Zhu De, outgrew this base and in early 1929 they ventured south to form a what was to become known as the Chinese Soviet Republic, based in Jianxi province. The northern part of neighboring Fujian were also controlled by the Reds as they roamed around, trying to keep one step ahead of Nationalist soldiers.
Anyway, back to the narrative.
Riding in the slow moving traffic means it's safe to occasionally glance around to see if I can spot what might be a camping shop. An army surplus place looks promising and after a bit of pantomime, the lady sells me an inflatable pad for 650rmb. Maybe I should have haggled, but it seems reasonable. After it's strapped to the top of my front rack, it's back to the chaos of the G319.
The madness lasts for about 15km. Then the long hill starts. It goes on forever. Long before the top, I'm in my lowest gear, soaked with sweat and pretty knackered.
My breakfast had been a banana left from Taiwan, so by noon I'm eager to find a place to eat, but there are just car dealerships, repair shops and drab industrial workshops; then countryside.
Now cars are more spaced out, but this means they go faster. The noise is relentless. It's depressing as hell.
After around 40km I get to a place marked on my route, an old house where Mao stayed for a while back in 1929. In June that year, he'd been demoted for overstepping his authority and, feeling unwanted, decided to head south. From what I've read, he parked himself in a nice place called Shuhuai House, in the pretty village of Sujiapocun.
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Set in a courtyard, the old residence is right beside a river, which when I go to have a look, is flowing red. Reports say Mao was sick during his time there, but his spirits got a boost when Moscow instigated his move back into the leadership fold.
Mao was summoned to nearby Gutian at the end of November, where in December 1929, the 9th meeting of the Chinese Communists was held, during which the Party gained official rule over the Red Army.
After taking a few snaps, I get back on the bike and head in that direction, hoping there’ll be a place to eat.
It is uphill again. Then I hear a voice. It's a guy on a motorbike who wants a photo with me. It's bad timing. I just need food, not a difficult conversation. I tell him that.
He's in his early 20s and his name I learn was Young, and he says he wants lunch too, so off we go, him speeding ahead to find somewhere. As luck would have it, there's a open-fronted place 10 minutes’ ride away and once there, I guzzle a bottle of sports drink from the fridge while Young orders us both fried noodles, which he insists on paying for. After that, life doesn’t seem too bad.
When looking at Google Maps, I’d imagined the X634 to Gutian would be a narrow road that climbed, but it is basically like the G319 I’ve just left. It has four lanes and the surface was wonderfully smooth, but the best thing is it is flat. Consequently it doesn’t take very long to get to Gutian.
The place where the historic meeting was held is important to the Chinese Communist Party and there’s a huge car park and a fancy reception building. A long curving road leads to the old house and I cycle along it, taking a snap of its front elevation as I do so. I never pop inside, as a guard tells me bikes are not allowed at the house; I’d bypassed the checkpoint by going across a field. Anyway, it's time to find a hotel and get warmed up.
Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 150 km (93 miles)
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