Our first stop in Shexian county, Handan, was the former military headquarters of the 129 division of the Eighth Route Army - a residential site that had served as both home and office to many well-known figures, such as Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945).

The Eighth Route Army was formed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1937. The 129 division, led by Liu, was one of its major divisions.

While the division began with only 9,000 soldiers in 1937, it numbered 700,000 soldiers by 1945. However, about 400,000 of this number were local militias, comprising locals who were sympathetic to the cause.