Noble Character, Exemplary Martyrs (Part 1)
Revolutionary Vanguard, Immortal Soul: Wang Xianzong, Hunan's First Martyred Peasant Movement Leader. Wang Xianzong (1890–1926), a native of Xiangtan, Hunan, joined the workers' night school run by the Anyuan Railway and Mining Workers' Club in Zhuzhou in July 1922. He joined the CPC in 1924 and co-founded the CPC Xiangtan branch that September.
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section One
Backbone of the Revolution, Radiant Soul
Hunan's First Sacrificed Peasant Movement Leader—Wang Xianzong
Wang Xianzong (1890-1926), a native of Xiangtan, Hunan. In July 1922, he participated in study at the workers' night school opened by the Zhuzhou branch of the Anyuan Railway and Mining Workers' Club. In 1924, he joined the Communist Party of China. In September of the same year, he and others established the CPC Xiangtan County East First District Branch. Later he served as general secretary of the secret peasant association of Badie Township, leading peasants in the struggle against imperialism and feudalism and in support of the Northern Expedition. In June 1924, he led the peasants of Badie Township in a struggle against local despots over the equal sale of grain, achieving victory and becoming a peasant movement leader famous throughout the surrounding villages. In 1925, he was arrested by local tyrants and evil gentry in collusion with reactionary garrison troops. In 1926, he was secretly killed in Sanmen, Xiangtan, becoming the first peasant movement leader to sacrifice his life in Hunan.
Hunan's First Rural Party Branch Secretary—Mao Fuxuan
Mao Fuxuan (1897-1933), a native of Xiangtan County, Hunan. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1922. In June 1925, Hunan's first rural Party branch—the Shaoshan Party Branch—was established, and Mao Fuxuan served as its secretary. In early 1927, when Mao Zedong returned to Hunan to investigate the peasant movement, he reported to Mao Zedong on the peasant movement in Xiangtan and other places, and accompanied and assisted Mao Zedong in traveling through and investigating 5 counties. Later, Mao Zedong wrote the famous "Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan." In 1928, he was transferred by the Party to Shanghai to engage in the Party's underground publishing work. Later, dispatched by the Party organization, he infiltrated the Jinshan County Police Bureau of the Kuomintang government, persisting in secret work for many years. In February 1933, he was arrested due to a traitor's tip-off, and on May 18 he died heroically at Yuhuatai in Nanjing, at the age of 36.
Hunan's First Peasant Association Director—Liu Dongxuan
Liu Dongxuan (1899-1928), also known as Liu Dongsheng, a native of Hengshan County, Hunan. In 1916, he was admitted to the tuition-free Jiangnan Military Engineering School. After graduating in 1920, he worked as a fitter in the machinery section of the Shuikoushan Lead-Zinc Mine. He and others secretly organized the Shuikoushan Club, and on behalf of the club he met with Li Lisan and Liu Shaoqi, requesting assistance. The Anyuan Party organization sent Jiang Xianyun and others to Shuikoushan, and also introduced him to join the Communist Party of China. In April 1923, he secretly established the Yuebei Peasant Club. On September 16, Hunan's first peasant association—the Yuebei Peasant Workers' Union—was established in Baiguo, Hengshan, and he served as its director. In 1927, he served as secretary of the CPC Qiyang County Committee and formulated the Qiyang Uprising action plan. In 1928, due to a traitor's betrayal, he was arrested and imprisoned on Youjie Street in Qiyang. In June 1928, he was killed outside the south gate of Qiyang County town, at the age of 29.
Hunan's First Female County Magistrate—Shao Zhenwei
Shao Zhenwei (1905-1927), a native of Liuyang, Hunan. In 1922, she was admitted to the normal class of the Liuyang Girls' School. During her time at school, she actively participated in the anti-imperialist and patriotic movement. In the summer of 1925, she joined the Communist Party of China. In 1926, when the Northern Expeditionary Army entered Liuyang, she joined the student propaganda team and, on behalf of the masses, presented a silk banner to Ye Ting. Soon after, she served as an executive committee member of the Liuyang County Joint Conference of Public and Legal Organizations. In the winter of the same year, she went to Shigao Township in the county to do women's work. In early 1927, she served as a judge of the Liuyang County Special Court, and was also elected a member of the Women's Congress Committee and a member of the CPC Liuyang County Committee. In March of the same year, she was elected county magistrate of Liuyang County, becoming China's first democratically elected female county magistrate. She successively assisted the county Party committee in establishing the Liuyang Workers' and Peasants' Volunteer Army; during the spring famine, she ordered landlords to sell grain at equal prices; she experimented with equal distribution of land in some places; she established production cooperatives and consumers' cooperatives at all levels throughout the county, and also issued orders banning opium and other substances. After the "Ma Ri Incident," she assisted Pan Xinyuan in organizing peasant troops to attack Changsha. In September 1927, she participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the Hunan-Jiangxi border led by Mao Zedong, and was later ordered to remain in Liuyang to persist in underground armed struggle. In November of the same year, she was unfortunately arrested in Shigao Township, Liuyang County. After arrest, she endured cruel tortures such as whipping, branding with fire, and having her legs crushed, yet remained steadfast and unyielding. On November 6, she was carried by the enemy to Zhuangyuanzhou outside the south gate of Liuyang and killed.
The Earliest Peasant Representative in the CPC Central Committee—Mao Kewen
Mao Kewen, courtesy name Longzhi, also known as Mao Xingwen, was born in 1898 in Yizhang, Hunan. In 1923, he founded a peasant school. In February 1925, he joined the Communist Party of China. In 1926, he mobilized peasants to carry out rent resistance struggles. In August, he was elected chairman of the Yizhang County Peasant Association. In December, he was elected a member of the presidium of the First Hunan Provincial Peasant Congress and an executive committee member of the Hunan Provincial Peasant Association. In May 1927, at the Fifth National Congress of the CPC, he was elected an alternate member of the Central Committee, making him the earliest peasant representative in the CPC Central Committee. In January 1928, he participated in leading the Yizhang New Year Uprising and the Xiangnan Uprising. On February 6, he was elected chairman of the Yizhang County Soviet Government. In November, he was elected one of the five members of the Front Committee of the Fourth Red Army of the CPC. In July 1929, he was arrested by Kuomintang troops at Huangmao, and on July 12 he died heroically in Chenzhou.
The First "Grand Justice" of the Red Regime—He Shuheng
He Shuheng was born in 1876 in Ningxiang, Hunan. In April 1918, he founded the Xinmin Society with Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, and others. In 1920, he and Mao Zedong and others initiated and organized the Russian Research Society, and he joined the Changsha Communist Group. In 1928, he went to Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, USSR. In July 1930, he was in charge of the National Mutual Aid Society in Shanghai. On February 19, 1932, the Central Government held its seventh regular meeting and decided to organize a provisional supreme court, appointing He Shuheng as the first "Grand Justice" of the Red Regime. In October 1934, he remained in the Central Base Area to persist in guerrilla warfare. In 1935, during the breakout battle in Changting, He Shuheng felt that he was old and weak and did not want to burden everyone. He tried to seize a gun to commit suicide but failed, then threw himself toward the nearby cliff, and was hit by several machine gun bullets from the enemy, at the age of 59. On September 14, 2009, he was jointly rated by 11 departments including the Central Propaganda Department as one of the 100 heroic model figures who made outstanding contributions to the founding of New China.
China's First Female Guerrilla Leader—He Ying
He Ying (1886-1933), originally named He Minying, childhood name Xianggu, was the elder sister of He Long, one of the founding marshals of the Republic. A native of Sangzhi County, Hunan Province. In 1906, at the age of 20, He Ying and her husband Gu Jiting formed an indigenous armed force dedicated to resisting evil forces. In 1916, she supported He Long in killing the great local tyrant Zhu Haishan of Sangzhi County who exploited peasants, and in driving away the corrupt county magistrate Chen Mugong. In 1922, after her husband Gu Jiting was killed, she took over as commander of the detachment. In the spring of 1928, He Long, Zhou Yiqun, Lu Dongsheng, and others were assigned by the CPC Central Committee to carry out armed struggle in the Hunan-Hubei-West region. Upon receiving the news, He Ying immediately led more than 1,000 people to participate in the Sangzhi Uprising. In October of the same year, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army suffered a setback in Shimen, and He Long led his troops back to the Sangzhi-Hefeng border to regroup, in an extremely difficult situation. He Ying raised supplies through many channels and personally led guerrillas to Yanya, bringing cotton, cotton cloth, silver dollars, and bullets to the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. In January 1929, after the Hefeng County Soviet regime was established, He Ying still persisted in struggle in the Taiping area. In the late period of the fourth counter-"encirclement and suppression" campaign in 1932, the struggle situation along the Hunan-Hubei border was extremely dangerous, and He Ying's guerrilla team fought alone in the mountains along the Sangzhi border. On the deep night of May 5, 1933, due to a traitor's tip-off, He Ying's guerrilla station was surrounded. During the battle, He Ying was hit by bullets and died heroically. She was China's first female guerrilla leader.
The First Female Party Member of the CPC—Miao Boying
Miao Boying was born in October 1899, a native of Changsha, Hunan. Born into a scholarly family, she was diligent and studious from childhood. In 1919, she was admitted with excellent grades to the Department of Physics and Chemistry of Beijing Women's Higher Normal School, and soon transferred to Peking University to participate in the work-study mutual aid group activities. At Peking University, she repeatedly listened to Li Dazhao's lectures on "Historical Materialism," "The International Workers' Movement," and other courses, and devoted herself to reading "The Communist Manifesto," "Das Kapital," and other books, gradually becoming a progressive youth with communist consciousness. In early 1920, Miao Boying joined the Marxist Theory Research Society of Peking University. In November of the same year, she joined the Beijing Communist Group organized by Li Dazhao, becoming the first female Party member in the history of the CPC. After joining the Party, Miao Boying actively worked for the Party and passed away prematurely at the young age of 30.
An Early Famous Youth Leader of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base Area—Deng Xiangjun
Deng Xiangjun was born in 1902 in Pingjiang, Hunan. In 1925, he participated in Pingjiang's famous "ban on foreign oil" struggle. In February 1927, he joined the Communist Party of China. In 1928, he participated in the "February Attack on the City" battle led by the CPC Pingjiang County Committee. In 1930, he served as a member of the CPC Xiangbei Special Committee and concurrently secretary of the Communist Youth League Xiangbei Special Committee, and was elected a standing committee member of the Communist Youth League Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Provincial Committee, actively organizing the vast number of youth in the border area to participate in consolidating the base area, joining the army and going to war, and the struggle against "encirclement and suppression." During his leadership of the Communist Youth League work, he mobilized tens of thousands of young people to join revolutionary mass organizations and 120,000 children to join the Children's Corps, making him an early famous youth leader of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base Area, and bringing about a high tide of "supporting the Red Army" and "expanding the Red Army" in the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Soviet Area. In 1934, he was reassigned as secretary-general of the Ministry of Education of the Chinese Soviet Republic Central Government, and in the same year he sacrificed his life in the fifth counter-"encirclement and suppression" battle in the Central Soviet Area.
Founder of the Revolutionary Armed Forces along the Hunan-Hubei Border—He Jinzhai
He Jinzhai was born in Sangzhi County in February 1901. He was He Long's cousin and a founder of the revolutionary armed forces on the Hunan-Hubei border. In May 1926, responding to the call of the Guangdong revolutionary government, He Long led his troops to join the Northern Expedition. He Jinzhai served as a regimental commander and acting brigade commander in the 1st Division of the 9th National Revolutionary Army, commanding his troops in battles at Lixian, Douhudi, Wushengguan, and Xiaoyao Town, repeatedly establishing military exploits. In 1927, at the critical historical juncture when Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup, He Jinzhai followed He Long and firmly stood on the side of the revolution. In June he became commander of the 1st Division of the 20th National Revolutionary Army, and in the winter of the same year he joined the Communist Party of China. In September 1928, in the battle at Nisha Town in Shimen, he died a heroic death at the age of only 27. Through his heroic deeds he fulfilled his iron oath: "I shall give my body to my Party" and "I vow to destroy the jackals and wolves for the people."
The First County Party Secretary of the CPC in Hunan Province — Liu Tai
Liu Tai, courtesy name Kangmin, was born in Leiyang in 1903. In 1919 he was admitted to Chengzhang Middle School in Hengyang. In early 1922 he joined the Communist Party of China and served as secretary of the Leiyang Local Committee of the Socialist Youth League. In April 1924, he organized the CPC Leiyang Branch and served as its secretary. In February 1925, Hunan Province's first county committee — the CPC Leiyang County Local Committee — was established, with Liu Tai as its first secretary. He later participated in the famous Nanchang Uprising. During the Southern Hunan Uprising, he cooperated with the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in capturing Leiyang County town. In April 1928, Liu Tai and others led the Leiyang peasant army and government personnel in transferring to Jinggangshan with Zhu De's troops. In May, he led more than 400 Leiyang peasant soldiers back to their home county to carry out guerrilla warfare, later moving to Yanmei Mountain, where they were surrounded by the enemy. While organizing a breakout, he died a heroic death.
Founder of the First Model District in the Central Soviet Area — Mao Zetan
Mao Zetan was born in Xiangtan County in 1905. In 1921 he joined the Socialist Youth League of China in Changsha, and in October 1923 he transferred to the Communist Party of China. In 1925 he worked in the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy and the Guangdong District Committee. At the end of July 1927, he participated in the Nanchang Uprising, and was later sent by Zhu De and Chen Yi to contact Mao Zedong at Jinggangshan, running back and forth to arrange the Jinggangshan meeting of the Zhu-Mao Red Army. In January 1929, Mao Zetan left Jinggangshan with the main force of the Fourth Red Army. Seriously wounded while advancing into southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, he stayed on as secretary of the Donggu District Committee. He actively carried out the agrarian revolution and expanded the Red Army ranks, making Donggu the first model district in the Central Soviet Area. In 1932, he served as secretary-general of the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area. During this period, he was wrongly criticized under Wang Ming's "Left" line and was demoted to grassroots work. In 1935, betrayed by a traitor, he unfortunately died while leading his troops in a breakout, at the age of 29.