On May 21, 1927, Xu Kexiang, a reactionary officer in the National Revolutionary Army, launched a counterrevolutionary coup in Changsha.

The "Ma-Japan Incident" occurred on May 21, 1927

In 1927, under the conspiracy and planning of He Jian, commander of the 35th Army of the Kuomintang, Xu Kexiang, a reactionary Kuomintang officer stationed in Changsha, On May 21, a counter-revolutionary rebellion was launched that massacred Communist Party members and workers and peasants. Because the Chinese telegram on the day of the incident used the rhyme "horse" to represent the 21st, this incident was called the "horse-day incident."

I originally opposed Sun Yat-sen's three major policies and had deep feelings for the workers' and peasants' movement in the two lakes. He Jian, the hated commander of the 35th Army, was instigated by Chiang Kai-shek. As early as the end of April 1927, he convened a meeting of senior generals in Hankou. He invited a group of reactionary officers to secretly discuss the anti-Japanese movement and purge the party. Military rebellion and conspiracy to overthrow the National Government in Wuhan. On May 17, Xia Douyin, commander of the 14th Independent Division, openly rebelled against the revolution. He Jian responded immediately and led his troops to carry out massacres across Hunan. They first killed the chairman of the Linxiang Farmers Association and the chairman of the Changde Suburban Farmers Association, and then They occupied Yiyang County's labor unions, farmers' associations and other revolutionary organs, and surrendered the guns of the peasant self-defense forces and workers' pickets. On the morning of May 21, He Jian led his troops and surrounded all revolutionary groups in Changde. Workers' pickets resisted and were fired upon by machine guns. At that time, more than 80 Communist Party members and revolutionary masses were killed. That night, Xu Kexiang, commander of the 33rd Regiment under He Jian stationed in Changsha, led more than 1,000 troops to launch a counter-revolutionary coup and launched a surprise attack on the revolutionary party and the workers and peasants. The city of Changsha suddenly burst into flames, with gunshots everywhere. Amidst the white terror, the reactionary army launched an attack on the Kuomintang Provincial Party Headquarters, the Provincial and Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, the Peasant Self-Defense Army Headquarters, the Provincial Party School, the Special Court and other institutions, groups, and workers' pickets. , seized the guns of the workers' pickets and the peasant self-defense forces, released the local tyrants and evil gentry and other criminals in prison, tore up the slogans of "Support the Wuhan National Government", "Down with Chiang Kai-shek" and "Eradicate the local tyrants and evil gentry" and replaced them with With all kinds of reactionary slogans. A large number of Communist Party members, workers and peasants, and young students fell in a pool of blood. This group of rebels gathered at the Changsha Martial Law Headquarters and established the so-called "Hunan Provisional Party Salvation Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang" as an open command organ for counter-revolutionary rebellion.

After the "Ma Ri Incident", white terror spread across Hunan. While the reactionaries were killing people, they were blaming the Communist Party. Rumors spread that this incident was all the result of the Communist Party's orders. It was a "military-civilian conflict" and was caused by "workers and peasants besieging the 33rd Regiment Headquarters and robbing guns." The Kuomintang reactionaries in Wuhan also spread rumors that without the workers' and peasants' movement, Xia Douyin and Xu Kexiang would not have rebelled. In less than a month after the "Ma-Japan Incident", more than 10,000 Communist Party members and revolutionary masses were brutally murdered near Changsha, seriously jeopardizing the revolutionary cause. Since then, Communist Party members and workers and peasants in Changsha and other places persisted in the revolution and launched an indomitable struggle against the reactionaries under extremely difficult conditions.