[a][2] Yan'an is celebrated in CCP historical narratives as the most sacred of revolutionary sites and the birthplace of Mao Zedong Thought.

Although not on the front lines of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region was the most politically important and influential revolutionary base area due to its function as the de facto capital of the Chinese Communist Revolution.

General Mao Zedong was originally intent on heading to the USSR border, but changed his mind after hearing about a large soviet in Northern Shaanxi.

When they arrived, they found a soviet wracked by sufan (purge) campaigns initiated by the local Politburo Central Committee under Liu Zhidan.

Multiple attempts were made to move to richer lands, or to head to the USSR border to get support from the Soviets, but all were stymied.

The CCP took advantage of the increasing nationalism and the KMT's weak response to Japanese aggression to recruit allies.

In December 1936, the Xi'an Incident occurred, where Chiang was kidnapped by his own soldiers and forced to agree to a United Front with the CCP.

Early 1937 was a period of relative peace, where in many areas of Shaanxi the CCP shared administration with the KMT, however there were frequent disputes over taxation rights.

During this war, there was an internal power struggle between Mao and the pro-Soviet faction, headed by Wang Ming, who wanted closer relations with the KMT and a more aggressive strategy in the war of Resistance against Japan, following the Comintern line, while Mao wanted operational independence from the KMT and a more conservative strategy focused on guerilla warfare.

In many instances confessions were extracted through torture, and people frequently resorted to extreme exaggeration of crimes to prove repentance, as well as blaming others.

The Yan'an soviet was controlled by Central Committee planning, and heavily influenced by the experience of the Ruijin era.

By embracing and creating art about labor heroes, who were exemplars of production and the people's revolutionary cause, intellectuals could gain legitimacy in socialist society.

[9] The CCP also made use of traditional folk practices such as Northern Shaanxi storytelling to spread and disseminate Communist policies.

[10] While the CCP made strives to extend equal rights to women, they struggled against the traditional customs of arranged marriage and dowry.

This was promoted as a democratic approach to the law, and principles of "Ma Xiwu's way" continue to be used even after the People's Republic of China was formed.

[12] Immediately after setting up the Soviet, the CCP began their "land revolution", confiscating property en-masse from the landlords and gentry of the region.

[2]: 266  The program of land redistribution, the party's hostility towards merchants and its ban on opium depressed the local economy severely, and by 1936 the Communists were reduced to raiding nearby Shanxi (then ruled by Nationalist-backed warlord Yan Xishan) in order to acquire grain and other supplies.

[6] The CCP government also enacted the "cooperative movement" to decrease rents and interest rates for the peasants, as well as creating programs to share animals, tools, and seeds.

[4]: 130  Mao implemented a mass line strategy,[4]: 130  and imposed heavy taxes on the population in order to pay military expenses, which resulted in what is known as the "Yan'an Way", establishing the Border Region's independence from Nationalist subsidy.

[2] From July to October 1936, journalist Edgar Snow visited the Yan'an commune, eventually writing the book Red Star Over China, which was extremely influential and shaped the perspective of many contemporary Chinese youth, who saw it as a mecca of revolutionary egalitarianism.