Mao Zedong, longing to revisit Jinggangshan and the former revolutionary sites, dreamed one night of taking a train directly to the mountains. That afternoon, he arrived in Jinggangshan City and drove straight to Ciping, where the famous White House—a forty-four-room residence once Mao’s base—stood. Originally occupied by five peasant families and Wang Zuo’s armed forces, it became Mao’s headquarters. Mao toured the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Memorial Museum, seeing exhibits about Yuan Wencai and Wang Zuo, which stirred his memories.

With the Jade Emperor’s permission, Mao sought to meet Yuan in the afterlife. Yuan, still angry, confronted him: “I never thought you’d have the nerve to visit!”

Mao smiled, “You were the mountain king who established the Jinggangshan base. Without you, I wouldn’t have had a foothold. I came to join you.”

Yuan retorted: “You speak politely, but the truth is, you betrayed us. After just over two years, you killed me and left me to die resentful and forgotten.”

Mao excused himself, claiming obedience to Moscow’s orders: Stalin allowed temporary use of bandits for the revolution, then required their elimination. Yuan countered: “Stalin may be a foreign bandit, but even he wouldn’t betray his own with less loyalty than we showed.”

Mao insisted Yuan’s “usefulness” had ended, so his death was justified. Yuan angrily recounted how he had initially spared Mao and his fledgling forces, feeding them and providing shelter, only to see Mao rapidly assert control, turning Yuan and his five hundred men into subordinates under a red star, forcing them to commit extreme violence during the capture of Ninggang County. Yuan and Wang Zuo were horrified by the cruelty.

Mao defended these acts as necessary revolutionary terror to consolidate authority. Yuan contrasted Mao’s “foreign bandit” methods with his own governance, where local taxation and military oversight maintained stability and public support. Mao’s forces, by contrast, looted extensively, bankrupting villages and generating hatred surpassing even that for the Kuomintang.

Yuan recalled that in March 1930, Mao followed Moscow’s orders to execute him, Wang Zuo, and forty senior officers. Most soldiers fled back to Jinggangshan, and Yuan’s local reputation as a mountain king endured. Mao noted that in the 1950s, Yuan was posthumously rehabilitated and honored as a martyr, and his family received care.

Yuan’s final words were sharp: “Even knowing this, you and the Communist Party never admitted guilt. My injustice remains unresolved. True repentance must come from the root.”

Mao’s response was evasive: “I am reflecting—give me more time.”

This dialogue illustrates Yuan Wencai as a morally grounded leader betrayed by revolutionary expediency, highlighting the ruthless pragmatism and violence Mao employed to consolidate power, even at the cost of loyal comrades and local populations.

NEXT: 75. Ma Yinchu (1882–1982)