Shaan Gan Ning Border Region

Shaan-Gan-Ning (陕甘宁边区) was one of the two border region governments with the capital at Yan'an, named after the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia. It was created by the CPC in agreement with the Kuomintang as a part of the Second United Front policy, substituting the former anti-Kuomintang Soviets.

The second region, lesser known because the name referred to the old geographic realities, was Jin-Cha-Ji: Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei. Since 1940, to solve financial crisis, CCP government in Shaan-Gan-Ning had begun opium plantation and dealing, selling them to Japanese-occupied and Kuomintang provinces. The KMT government tried to send in an opium-prohibition inspection team but was turned down by the communists.