Macheng has a long history, dating back to the
Spring and Autumn period as part of the state of
Chu, and was the site of the historic
Battle of Boju fought between Chu and
Wu in 506 BC. It was named Macheng in 598 AD. In 1927, a major peasant revolt erupted in Macheng, creating a strong base for the ensuing Communist revolution in 1949. More than 100,000 people joined Mao's Red Army under local Generals, Wang Shusheng and Chen Zaidao. A guerilla base in Macheng was eliminated in the
Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Dabieshan. Macheng played a key role during the
Great Leap Forward. In an effort to increase crop yields, the local communist cadres began demolishing walls of old buildings, abandoned huts and farm stables where animals had urinated to provide nutrients for the soil. In January 1958, Macheng County was exalted by the provincial party secretary,
Wang Renzhong. for reaching a rice yield of six tonnes per hectare. The
People's Daily applauded the efforts in an op-ed and labelled it as a 'model commune' which attracted more than half a million cadres in 1958, including
Zhou Enlai,
Chen Yi and
Li Xiannian. Spurred on by the positive coverage, overzealous local officials destroyed more than 50,000 houses in an effort to make more manure which spurred other neighboring counties and provinces to follow. As many as 30–40% of all houses in China were destroyed following this incident during the Great Leap Forward. ==Geography==