The glorious years

Ruijin is in the south and Zhaojin is in the north. General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "The Shaanxi-Gansu Border Revolutionary Base with Zhaojin as its center has written a glorious page in the history of the 中文 revolution."

In the early 1930s, Liu Zhidan, Xie Zichang, Xi Zhongxun and other older generation proletarian revolutionaries planted the red flag in the deep mountains of Zhaojin, Shaanxi, and established the first mountain revolutionary base in the northwest region with Zhaojin as its center - the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Revolutionary Base.

On the night of the Lantern Festival on February 20, 1932, gunshots rang out on the streets of Zhaojin. The Shaanxi-Gansu guerrillas led by Liu Zhidan and Xie Zichang attacked the local militia, and the flames of the Zhaojin revolution were ignited. In December of the same year, the Shaanxi-Gansu guerrillas were officially reorganized into the Second Regiment of the 26th Army of the 中文 Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, which was the earliest regular Red Army established by the Communist Party of China in the northwest during the Agrarian Revolution. The Second Red Army Regiment fought in various places in Zhaojin, which made the local people excited and the enemy terrified.

After the fall of the Zhaojin Soviet Area, the revolutionary fire did not die out. Liu Zhidan and Xi Zhongxun led the Shaanxi-Gansu Red Army to continue fighting on the outer front and moved the center of the base area to Nanliang.

In 1934, the Red Army fought back to Zhaojin and fully restored and consolidated the Zhaojin Soviet Area. Zhaojin also became a frontier position in the fight against the Kuomintang reactionaries until the entire Yao County was liberated in 1949.

Walking in the mountainous area of ​​Zhaojin Town, Yaozhou District, Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province, there are crisscrossing gullies and towering stone peaks everywhere, with the mountains carved by axes and knives. The smoke of gunpowder was once far away, but now it intoxicates tourists.

"The sun shines on the brocade clothes, and the ground looks like gold." Zhaojin has been the key to the north since ancient times, also known as Shimenguan, and has been a battleground for military strategists in history. Zhaojin also has an important position in the history of my country's revolution. Liu Zhidan, Xie Zichang, Xi Zhongxun and other older generation proletarian revolutionaries established the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Revolutionary Base with Zhaojin as the center, leaving behind a large number of revolutionary sites such as Xuejiazhai, Hongjun Cave, and Chenjiapo Conference Site.

Today, the convenient and complete transportation network has enabled the once impoverished town of Zhaojin to enter the fast lane of high-quality development with the help of the red tourism industry. In 2019, the Zhaojin Scenic Area received 4.0156 million tourists and realized a comprehensive tourism income of 2.658 billion yuan. In 2020, the Xuejiazhaixi Mountain Icefall Landscape became a popular check-in spot, with the number of tourists entering the park increasing by more than 60% year-on-year.

Tourist through bus connects scenic spots along the route

Tongchuan prospered because of coal, and railway transportation started early. In the early 1940s, the 135-kilometer Xianyang-Tongchuan railway was built, enabling the agricultural and industrial resources along the line to be vigorously developed.

In the early days of the founding of New China, the Yao (county) Zhao (jin) Highway leading to Zhaojin was just a simple highway with a total length of more than 50 kilometers. From then until the 1990s, after continuous segmented line changes and renovation and upgrading projects, it was put into use successively with dirt road surface, mud-stone road surface and asphalt road surface.

In 1992, the Sanyuan-Tongchuan first-class highway was opened to traffic. It is more than 60 kilometers long. This road was the longest high-grade highway in Shaanxi Province at that time. It was also the expressway and main highway artery north of Xi'an at that time. It was very convenient to travel south from Tongchuan to Xi'an.

Entering the new century, Tongchuan’s road network has been continuously improved and Zhaojin’s traffic conditions have been greatly improved.

The former site of Zhaojin Revolutionary Base is one of the 100 classic red tourism scenic spots in the country. The local magnificent and unique Danxia landform and the former site of the Shaanxi-Gansu Border Revolutionary Base centered on Zhaojin Town, the Zhaojin Memorial Hall, the Xuejiazhai Ruins, the former site of the Red Army Barracks, etc., constitute a unique cultural tourism resource advantage.

In 2011, the Xitong Expressway was completed and opened to traffic. The original first-class highway was widened and expanded to eight lanes. It only takes 40 minutes to drive from Xi'an to Tongchuan. With continuous renovation and upgrading, in December 2015, the 56.52-kilometer Yaozhou-Zhaojin Red Tourism Highway was completed and opened to traffic. The colorful road surface, observation deck, torch-shaped solar street lights, green trees and blue sky complement each other, forming a beautiful landscape. This highway is of great significance to the development of tourism in Zhaojin, the promotion of poverty alleviation in the old revolutionary base areas, and the convenience of people's production and life.

Transportation construction is constantly progressing, making the journey more beautiful and smoother. In February 2016, the Tongchuan-Xunyi Expressway was opened to traffic, shortening the driving time from Xi'an to Zhaojin from 2 hours to 1 hour. In February 2017, the Xi'an South Passenger Transport and Tourism Distribution Center opened a tourist through bus to Zhaojin, with scenic spots and tourist service stations as stops to meet the diverse travel needs of tourists. Recently, the list of nominees for the 10th China Tourism Investment "ITIA" Award was announced, and Zhaojin was nominated for "China's Best Tourism Town" for three consecutive terms.

"Red Star Shining" road culture improves service quality

Walking into the office building of Zhaojin Toll Station on Tongchuan-Xunyi Expressway, the distinctive "Red Star Shining" cultural wall is eye-catching. The "Red Star Shining on My Journey" brochure, "CIS Standardization Manual", employee portfolios and other creation achievements show the original intention of highway employees to inherit the red culture and deliver civilized service.

In 2018, Tongxun Branch of Shaanxi Transportation Holding Group Co., Ltd. created the "Red Star Shining" road cultural brand based on the profound red cultural heritage of Zhaojin and Malan in its jurisdiction. The advanced brand concept and modern business methods are effectively integrated, forming a virtuous cycle in which brand culture promotes operation management and operation management improves brand building.

The red star shines as we go. On the Tongxun Expressway, the staff has added luster to the transportation industry with high-quality services; the "Red Star Shining" road sister team members have bravely taken on important tasks and overcome difficulties in toll reform, epidemic prevention and control, snow removal and traffic maintenance, disaster relief, and grassroots services.

The "Red Star Shining" road sister team selects outstanding members to shape "red stars" and create "Red Star Characteristic Teams". "Red Star Class 4" is a civilized service charm class. The team highlights the exemplary leading role of business backbones, and carries out party history, red songs, and business skills training; organizes "Everyone strives to be a red tour guide" and "Party and League History Propaganda" activities in the Zhaojin Revolutionary Base, finds the commonalities between the tourism services of the Zhaojin Scenic Area Management Committee and the services of the highway toll windows, and carries out civilized service on-site practice activities.

The "Shining Red Star" Lu Jie team also takes serving the society as its mission and has formed a "Women's Volunteer Service Team" to preach the history of the Party and the League, visit centenarian Red Army veterans, comfort the elderly and widows, and go to special schools to provide loving assistance, which has won wide recognition from the society.