However, as Yuan Shikai staged his coup to control the Republic, Cheng tried to revolt, but the failure prompted him to flee to Japan, where he entered the Kuomindang and the Waseda University.
After being forced out of Jinggangshan in the late 1920s by the Kuomindang, the Communists fled here, taking advantage of Ruijin's relative isolation in the rugged mountains along Jiangxi's border with Fujian.