Why is Yan'an important in Chinese history?

After the Long March the Communist Party made Yan'an its headquarters from 1937 to 1947. Mao Zedong consolidated his leadership there, and the Party developed many of the policies and institutions it took into power in 1949.

Is the Hukou Waterfall in Yan'an?

Its western bank is in Yichuan county, which belongs to Yan'an; the eastern bank is in Ji county, Shanxi. The waterfall can be seen from both sides.

Historic city · Cultural centre · Shaanxi

Yan'an

延安 (Yán'ān)

Loess Plateau city of the Communist Party's wartime base

Yan'an is a prefecture-level city on the Loess Plateau of northern Shaanxi, the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army from 1937 to 1947. Its territory also includes the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor at Huangling, the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River and Ansai, home of the waist-drum dance and northern Shaanxi paper-cutting.

ProvinceShaanxi

Key facts

Province: Shaanxi
Administrative level: Prefecture-level city
Area: about 37,037 km²[1]
Resident population: 2.28 million(as of 2020 census)[2]
Party headquarters: 1937–1947

Overview

Yan'an lies where the Yan River winds between loess hills, overlooked by the Ming pagoda on Pagoda Hill that is the city's emblem. For centuries it was a garrison town on the frontier with the steppe peoples; in the eleventh century the statesman Fan Zhongyan commanded its defences against the Western Xia.

Its modern fame comes from the decade after the Long March, when Mao Zedong and the Party leadership lived and worked in cave dwellings in the valleys around the town. Those sites are now among the most visited places of “red tourism” in China. The surrounding countryside, poor for most of the twentieth century, has been reforested on a large scale since the 1990s and is known for its apples and its oil.

Names and nicknames

延州 (Yánzhōu)
The prefecture's name from the Sui to the Song, when it was a frontier fortress against the Western Xia.
革命圣地 (gémìng shèngdì)
“holy land of the revolution”
The official epithet for the city's role in Communist Party history.

History

The Central Red Army reached Wuqi in northern Shaanxi in October 1935, ending the Long March. In January 1937 the Party moved its headquarters to Yan'an, which became the capital of the Shaan–Gan–Ning Border Region. Here Mao delivered the Talks at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art in 1942, the Party held its Seventh Congress in 1945, and foreign journalists and a US Army observer mission visited. Nationalist forces took the town in March 1947; the Communists recaptured it in April 1948.

1040s
Fan Zhongyan defends Yanzhou
The Song statesman strengthened the frontier against the Western Xia before writing his famous Yueyang Tower essay.
October 1935
End of the Long March
The Central Red Army arrived at Wuqi in Yan'an's territory.
January 1937
Party headquarters move to Yan'an
Yan'an became the centre of Communist-held territory for the next ten years.
May 1942
Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art
Mao's talks set the Party's line on literature and art for decades.
July 1944
US Army Observation Group
The “Dixie Mission” established the first official American contact with the Communist leadership.
March 1947 – April 1948
Nationalist occupation
Hu Zongnan's troops took the town after the Party leadership withdrew; it was recaptured a year later.

Landmarks

Historic site
Pagoda Hill
宝塔山 (Bǎotǎ Shān)
Hill above the river junction with a nine-storey pagoda, the symbol of the city.
Historic site
Yangjialing and Zaoyuan
杨家岭·枣园 (Yángjiālǐng · Zǎoyuán)
Cave-dwelling compounds where Mao and other leaders lived, with the auditorium of the Seventh Party Congress.
Museum
Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall
延安革命纪念馆 (Yán'ān Gémìng Jìniànguǎn)
The principal museum of the Yan'an period.
Nature
Hukou Waterfall
壶口瀑布 (Húkǒu Pùbù)
Where the Yellow River narrows abruptly and plunges into a rock channel; shared with Shanxi across the river.
Historic site
Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor
黄帝陵 (Huángdì Líng)
The traditional tomb of the legendary ancestor on Qiao Mountain in Huangling county, set among ancient cypresses.

Neighbourhoods

Baota
宝塔区 (Bǎotǎ Qū)
The central district along the Yan River valley.
Ansai
安塞 (Ānsài)
District north-west of the city, home of the waist-drum dance, paper-cuts and peasant painting.

Food

Yangyu caca
洋芋擦擦 (yángyù cāca)
Grated potato tossed in flour and steamed, then dressed with garlic and chilli or stir-fried.
Mutton hele noodles
羊肉饸饹 (yángròu héle)
Buckwheat or wheat noodles pressed through a wooden press into lamb broth.
Millet
小米饭 (xiǎomǐ fàn)
The staple of the loess north, eaten as porridge or steamed, and remembered as the food of the Yan'an years.

Culture

Yan'an is the heart of northern Shaanxi folk culture: waist drums, yangge dancing, xintianyou songs, paper-cuts and cave-dwelling architecture. Its revolutionary history dominates the city's museums and memorials and draws large numbers of Party study groups and school visits.

Getting around

Yan'an station is on the railway from Xi'an to Baotou; Yan'an Nanniwan Airport lies south-east of the city.
The revolutionary sites are spread along the valleys north-west of the centre and are reached by local bus or taxi.
Hukou Waterfall and Huangling are in the south of the prefecture and are usually visited by road.

Day trips

Nanniwan
南泥湾 (Nánníwān)
Valley south-east of the city reclaimed by soldiers in the 1940s, remembered in a well-known song.
Hukou Waterfall
壶口瀑布 (Húkǒu Pùbù)
The Yellow River's great waterfall on the Shanxi border.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Yan'an Municipal People's Government — Yan'an Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Yan'an — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)

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