Xu Chen, born in 1904, is a native of Dahao Town, a suburb of Shantou City, Guangdong Province. He studied hard under the guidance of his mother from an early age and was quite literate. In 1924, the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the vigorous development of the revolutionary movement of workers and peasants in Guangdong encouraged Xu Chen, who was then a teacher at shantou Municipal No. 2 Primary School, to embark on the revolutionary road. As a backbone member of the Shantou Teachers' Federation, he often made progressive remarks in public.
Xu Chen
Yu Zhezhen was born in 1907 in Yongping Village, Chenghai County, Guangdong Province, to a handicraft family. Since childhood, she is lively and active, stubborn, like to play war games with boys, love to listen to historical stories such as "Liang Hongyu" and "Yangmen Female General", and worship female generals such as Mulan and Mu Guiying. In the era when "a woman without talent is virtuous, it is better to learn more needlework", nine-year-old Yu Zhezhen asked her father: "Why can't my brother go to school and I can't go to school?" I'm going to school too!" After her father decided to send her to study, he gave enthusiastic support to Yu Zhezhen's beloved uncle Yu Changchun, hoping that she would learn to set up a forest of female talents in the future.
Yu Zhezhen
In the autumn of 1923, Yu Zhezhen, who had excellent grades, was admitted to the progressive school at that time, shantou women's normal school. There, she listened to the ideas "on women's education and women's liberation", came into contact with many progressive youth, and developed a strong desire to seek the truth. While studying, she actively participated in posters, street propaganda, posted revolutionary slogans, supported the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and organized her classmates to study progressive books and periodicals together. Whenever she returned to her hometown on holidays, she publicized to her sisters in her hometown the truth that "the country rises and falls, and women have the responsibility", mobilized everyone to break through the shackles of the family to fight for the opportunity to study and be independent, and also took the lead in cutting braids and wearing skirts, vowing to break with the old ideas.
By chance, Yu Zhezhen met Xu Chen while participating in revolutionary activities. Shared beliefs and pursuits brought them together, and it wasn't long before they were in a relationship. However, this love affair has made Yu Zhezhen criticized, and some people say that she is thick-skinned and shameless, and she is looking for a husband. In the face of criticism, Yu Zhezhen did not mind at all: "Of course, my own marriage must be decided by myself, and I absolutely do not want any parental orders, let alone the words of a matchmaker." She was determined to break the shackles of thousands of years of antiquated ideas and feudal etiquette, and to start with herself. In June 1925, after graduating from Yu Zhezhen Normal School, he and Xu Chen were officially married. This pair of revolutionary couples, after marriage, still leave early and return late every day, are busy with the revolutionary cause, and have not had time for the wedding.
"Our revolution is just, and we will eventually win the final victory"
In September 1925, Xu Chen was appointed as a member of the Shantou Youth League Prefectural Committee of the Socialist Youth League, and Yu Zhezhen was appointed secretary of the Women's Movement Committee of the Youth League Prefectural Committee, becoming one of the earliest leaders of the women's liberation movement in Shantou. In December 1925, Xu Chen and Yu Zhezhen joined the Communist Party of China.
In early December 1926, the couple arrived in Fuzhou with the Eastern Route Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army. In his capacity as the head of the Party Affairs Section of the Political Department of the Eastern Route Army, Xu Chen served as chairman of the Fujian Provincial People's Movement Committee and directly participated in the work of the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee of the CPC. Yu Zhezhen used the public identity of the reporter accompanying the army as a cover to undertake part of the work of the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee. They rented a house in Anmin Lane, Fuzhou City, which also became a secret contact point for the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China.
In early 1927, after the reorganization of the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xu Chen was appointed secretary of the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee, and Yu Zhezhen was appointed minister of the Women's Department. During this period, Xu Chen was busy with work, and in addition to undertaking part of Xu Chen's clerical work, Yu Zhezhen often went deep into factories and schools to publicize the achievements of the Guangdong Women's Movement8 to female workers, female students and female teachers, improve their ideological awareness, help them organize the Women's Liberation Association, and win the support and love of the women's circles in Fuzhou.
The vigorous development of the revolutionary situation in Fuzhou caused panic among the rightists of the Kuomintang, and Xu Chen's prestige among the masses also made the rightists both hate and fear. As a result, they continued to suppress the mass movement and deliberately create trouble. On March 8, 1927, the rightists led by Lin Shouchang openly targeted the Communist Party, bought and instigated a large number of hooligans and thugs to openly beat up Communists and Leftists, slandered Xu Chen, Yu Zhezhen, and others as the "four evils", and wanted to expel them from Fujian.
In the face of the open provocations of the Kuomintang rightist forces, Xu Chen, in coordination with Comrade Wang Hebo, commissioner of the CPC Central Committee, launched a mass rally with more than 40 groups and more than 30,000 people in the name of the Preparatory Office of the Fujian Provincial Party Department and the Fujian Provincial People's Movement Committee. At the meeting, Xu Chen took up the case and gave a speech without fear, denouncing the Despicable Acts of the Kuomintang: "Your reactionary rule is unpopular, our revolution is just, and we will eventually win the final victory." After the meeting, a huge demonstration was held, which effectively dealt a blow to the arrogance of the rightist forces of the Kuomintang.
"Let the gunshots of the Kuomintang be used as a salute for our marriage."
At the end of March 1927, in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Anqing, Hangzhou and other places, there were counter-revolutionary incidents in which the Kuomintang reactionaries slaughtered Communists and revolutionary masses, and the relations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party faced a rupture. The counter-revolutionaries in Fuzhou were also eager to move, trying to launch a coup d'état, and the struggle between the left and right factions in Fuzhou reached a fever pitch.
On April 3, the right wing of the Kuomintang launched the "April 3" counter-revolutionary coup in Fuzhou, which shocked the whole country, and wantonly hunted down Communists, trade union workers, and progressives, and white terror enveloped the entire city of Fuzhou. In order to preserve the backbone strength of the party and deal with emergencies in a timely manner, the Fuzhou Prefectural Committee decided to leave Chen Yingzhong and Fang Erhao to carry out underground work, and the other comrades withdrew from Fuzhou. Escorted by underground party members, Xu Chen and Yu Zhezhen took a steamer from Mawei to Xiamen under pseudonyms, preparing to consult with their fellow villagers and Luo Yangcai, director of the organization department of the Xiamen Municipal CPC Committee, before returning to Shantou, but as soon as they landed, they were recognized by the agents and immediately arrested. In prison, Xu Chen and his wife were tortured, but they were unyielding. On May 24, the enemy escorted the couple to Fuzhou.
On June 2, Xu Chen, Yu Zhezhen, Luo Yangcai, and others were taken to the Jijiao Lane Execution Ground on Xihong Road in Fuzhou. When the executioners wanted to shoot Xu Chen first, Yu Zhezhen shouted angrily: "Slow! I joined the party with Xu Chen and made a revolution together. Even if you die, you will die together!" After saying that, he hugged Xu Chen tightly and said in awe: "Although Xu Chen and I are married, we have not had a wedding." Shoot! Let the gunshots of the Kuomintang be used as a salute for our marriage today!"
Gunshots rang out and bullets pierced the chests of the revolutionary couple..... Xu Chen was 23 years old when he died, and Yu Zhezhen was only 20 years old.
After Xu Chen's mother, who was far away from her hometown in Shantou, learned of the news of her son's arrest, she hurriedly became a seller of medium-value items to raise money, relying on a pair of small feet, wading through the mountains and waters to rush to Fuzhou, using various methods to rescue unsuccessfully, and even wanted to see the last side of her son. After learning of the sacrifice of Xu Chen and his wife, the old man who was in pain of losing his son tearfully complained to the Kuomintang reactionaries: "When Xu Chen was alive, you did not let me see him, and now that he is dead, you should always give it back to me!" However, when Xu Chen's old mother went to find Xu Chen and his wife for righteousness, the body had long been transferred and hidden by the Kuomintang reactionaries and disappeared. Today, in the martyrdom of Xu Chen and his wife, only an old lychee tree remains, as if silently guarding the loyal soul of the martyr.
Many years later, the descendants of the Xu family commissioned an old gentleman to write an altarpiece for Xu Chen. When the old gentleman learned the story of the revolutionary couple and Xu Mother's search for a son, he wiped his tears and sighed at the same time: The wedding on the execution ground is so tragic! White-haired people send black-haired people, how sad!