During the recent National Day holiday, visitors lined up outside an exhibition hall in Shazhou, a village in Rucheng county, Hunan province. Inside, docent Zhu Shuhua stood before the hall's most treasured item: a quilt sent in 1991 by Red Army veterans to a local woman named Xu Jiexiu.
Xu's great-granddaughter, 38-year-old Zhu, retells the story of the quilt to visitors every day, and more importantly, about another half a quilt dating back more than 90 years.
In November 1934, as the Central Red Army embarked on the Long March, they passed through Rucheng, with the army's medical department stationed in Shazhou village. During the cold and rainy weather, three female Red Army soldiers stayed at Xu's home overnight.
Xu, then 34, let them crowd with her and her baby on one bed, covered by her old quilted coat, a straw rain cape, and tattered cotton wadding — everything she had to keep them warm. The soldiers offered their thin quilt and helped Xu mend clothes, fetch water, cook, and care for the baby. Upon departure, the soldiers cut their only quilt in half and gave one half to Xu. "Take it, sister," one of them said. "When the revolution succeeds, we will come back and bring you a new, warm quilt."
According to her family, it was then that Xu came to a profound realization: that a force whose soldiers would sacrifice their only quilt for civilians was a force genuinely fighting for the people. For the next 50 years, she often stood at the entrance of her village, hoping to see the three women again, but they never returned.
After learning about her story from a newspaper, some Red Army veterans, including Deng Yingchao (1904-1992), a revolutionary and politician who was the wife of the late premier Zhou Enlai, sent a new quilt to Xu in 1991. Sadly, it arrived shortly after she died.
The story, however, has been passed down through Xu's family and the village for generations. "I grew up hearing the story from my parents and grandparents," Zhu said.
Born in 1988, Zhu has no personal memory of her great-grandmother. "In my father's and uncles' descriptions, she was an ordinary rural woman with a strong will," Zhu said. "She often told the family: 'What are members of the Communist Party of China? They are the ones who, even if they have only one quilt, would offer half of it to the people'."
Zhu worked as a kindergarten teacher until the summer of 2018. When she returned home for the holidays, she found her uncle telling the "half a quilt" story to visitors through a portable loudspeaker.
"He had been doing it for years," Zhu said. "I was deeply touched and realized that we younger ones have an even greater responsibility to share this story with more people."
Now, as a docent at the "Warmth of Half a Quilt" Exhibition Hall in Shazhou, she has given thousands of tours to visitors, ranging from primary school students to seniors in their 70s and 80s. Since its opening in 2017, the exhibition hall has welcomed over 5.7 million visitors, becoming a key site for Red history education and study programs in the region.
In September 2020, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, paid a visit to the exhibition hall during an inspection tour in Hunan.
Lacking food and clothing, even facing life-or-death situations, the Red Army still kept the people's wellbeing in mind, Xi said, noting that the story shows the CPC's original aspiration and character.
Nearly 90 years after the victory of the Long March, its spirit endures, and the impact of the "half a quilt" story extends far beyond its retelling.
Inspired by the story, five members of Xu's family have joined the military. Among them is Zhu Xiangqun, Xu's great-grandson, who now serves as the Party secretary of Shazhou village. Nearly every day, he works to address the concerns of each household and manage village affairs.
One of Xu's final wishes was to see the village road revamped, Zhu Xiangqun said. In 2017, a new tourism highway was completed through the mountains. Now, tourist buses park at the village entrance almost daily, and boxes of local produce, sold through livestreaming e-commerce, are transported along this road to destinations across the country.
With the exhibition hall and other Red tourism attractions drawing increasing numbers of visitors, many villagers have opened homestays, restaurants, and specialty shops. In 2025, the village welcomed 1.42 million visitors, and the per capita income for residents exceeded 26,000 yuan ($3,740). "Our village has transformed thanks to the boom in Red tourism, and life continues to improve," Zhu Xiangqun said.
Zhu Shuhua, the exhibition hall docent, now often shares the "half a quilt" story with her children.
"Every generation has its own Long March," she said. "I hope the kids, as well as other children, can resonate with the old story and continue to pass on this warmth."
Editor：Zhou Jinmiao
