Shazhou Yao Village 沙洲瑶族村

In November 1934, three female Red Army soldiers stayed at Xu Jiexiu's home in Shazhou Yao Village, Hunan, and left half a quilt when they departed.

The thematic exhibition “The Great Expedition,” currently open at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, has drawn a surge of visits by military personnel, many from units with heroic Long March histories. Their guide is Zhu Shuhua, great-granddaughter of Xu Jiexiu, the woman at the center of the Long March story of half a quilt. In November 1934, as the Red Army passed through Shazhou Yao Village in Hunan during the Long March, three female Red Army soldiers stayed at Xu Jiexiu's home. Seeing the elderly woman's difficult circumstances, they cut their only quilt in half before leaving and gave her one half. In the autumn of 2020, during an inspection tour of Hunan, President Xi said with deep feeling at the “Warmth of Half a Quilt” exhibition hall: “Our army is the people's army. The bond between us Communists and ordinary people is the bond of sharing a quilt.”