Yangjialing, two kilometres northwest of the city centre, was the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1941 to 1943, the period of the Yan'an Rectification Campaign — the internal ideological campaign that purged incorrect thinking within the party and established Mao's version of Marxism as orthodox. Mao, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and other senior figures all lived here in cave dwellings cut into the hillside; a handful have been restored and furnished as they appeared during the occupation.
The Seventh Party Congress Hall is the highlight of the site: a long, low assembly hall with wooden benches arranged in rows facing a speaker's podium. The portrait of Mao and the red banners that decorated it during the 1945 congress have been reinstated, and the space gives a strong sense of the modest physical conditions under which a party that would soon govern a billion people was organizing itself. The caves of individual leaders are arranged up the hillside above the hall, with explanatory signs at each identifying the occupant and their role.
Most visitors combine Yangjialing with Zaoyuan on the same day; the two sites are three kilometres apart and easily connected by taxi or bus. Both are free to enter.