The Yangjia Ling Revolutionary Site lies about three kilometers northwest of Yan'an City. During the Anti-Japanese War, it was merely a small village resided by fewer than 20 households. On November 20, 1938, after Yan'an City was bombed by Japanese fighter planes, the functional department of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was moved here from Fenghuang Shan inside Yan'an, and stayed here between November 1938 and March 1947.

The main buildings inside the revolutionary site consist of the great assembly hall, the office building and the former residence of Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi. At this place, the central Committee initiated the Great Production Campaign among the army soldiers and the masses in the liberated area, held the significant Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China and the famous Yan'an Forum of Literature and Art. All this had laid a solid foundation for greater success for the Communist Party in the coming years.

The local people with the help of the Central Communities staff built the assembly hall in 1942 with such materials as bricks and stones they found nearby. The building is separated into three parts: the main hall, the ballroom and the lounge. From April 23,1945 to June 11,the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party was held here. Chairman Mao addressed for both the opening and closing ceremonies, i.e., Two Destinies for China and The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains. Liu Shaoqi initiated the phrase Mao Zedong Thought in his Report on Revising the Party Constitution and explained it intensively.

The office building was built in 1941. It was nicknamed "airplane building" for it appears in the shape of an airplane. Between May 2, 1942 and, May 23, the Yan'an Forum of Literature and Art was held here and Mao delivered his famous Talk at the Yan'an Forum of Literature and Art.

It was the toughest period of the Anti-Japanese War when Mao live at Yangjia Ling. In order to overcome difficulties and guide Chinese revolution, he composed a lot of theroretical works, among which 40 were put into Anthology of Mao Zedong. In August 1946, Mao conversed for a long time with the American journalist Anna Louise Strong under the trees in front of the fourteenth cave dwelling, and concluded: "All the reactionaries are paper tigers." From here one can have a clear view of the small vegetable plot which Mao once tilled. It was at Yangjia Ling that Mao aired his mobilization of the Great Production Campaign.

In early November 1944, Zhou Enlai left Yangjia Ling for Chongqing for another negotiation with the Nationalist Party.