As the main founder of the Taicheng Special Branch of the CPC and the Anping County CPC Committee, Gong Zhongtao was unswerving and devoted to the party throughout his life. The revolutionary who came out of this rich gentleman's house sold almost all his family property for the revolutionary cause he was obsessed with; in the course of the struggle against the dark forces, four of his relatives were killed; in the midst of the upheaval and displacement, he still did not forget to propagate progressive ideas, but he was blinded by the capitalists. Even in the last moments of his life, Gong Zhongtao still expressed his fierce loyalty to the party with actions.
Gong Zhongtao had a son and two daughters, and the son was poisoned to death by the enemy at the age of eight. The eldest daughter, Bow Pu, grew up with him in her hometown to make a revolution, and in 1926, when she was studying in Beijing, she participated in the "March 18" anti-imperialist patriotic demonstration, which was shot and suppressed by the military and police of Duan Qirui's government. Bowpo was injured and returned to his hometown for treatment, during which he was elected as a women's committee member of the central county party committee, and later died of his injuries.
Gong Zhongtao's parents were supposed to live a rich and stable life, but they were implicated by Gong Zhongtao and were often threatened and scolded by various enemies. In 1934, due to the rebellion of Fan Keming, inspector of the Special Committee for the Protection of The People's Republic of China, the party organization in Anping County was destroyed, and the county party committee and some other comrades left Anping one after another, and the county party committee stopped its activities. At that time, Gong Zhongtao's old mother died under the endless threat of the enemy's search. In order to avoid the eyes and ears of the enemy, the funeral cannot be carried out during the day, and the old mother can only be secretly buried at night. At this time, Gong Zhongtao's family was almost destroyed, but he still endured the great grief of losing his relatives and stubbornly insisted on revolutionary work.
Gong Zhongtao's mother was threatened to death by the enemy
Bow Zhongtao buried his mother at night
Gong Zhongtao's son was poisoned and killed by the enemy
In August 1937, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, due to the complicated situation, Gong Zhongtao lost contact with the higher-level party organization. As a loyal Communist Party member who regarded the organization as his life, Gong Zhongtao could not bear to lose contact with the party organization, so he resolutely took his wife, who was all sick, and went to northern Shaanxi with his daughter Gong Nairu to find the party. On the way, he was robbed by bandits, penniless, and went through hardships to reach Xi'an. At this time, the wife was seriously ill and could not move forward, so she had to let her daughter go first. After several twists and turns, He nairu finally arrived in Yan'an, reconnected with the party organization, and was assigned to the Northern Shaanxi Public School. After Gong Nairu arrived in Yan'an, he tried everything to find his father's whereabouts, but there was no news. In the winter of 1939, Gong Zhongtao's wife died of illness, and he wrapped his body in a mat and buried her locally. Unable to find the party organization and did not dare to reveal his identity, he had to go to a factory as a brother-in-law in anonymity. Even in a difficult situation, Gong Zhongtao never forgot his responsibility as a Communist Party member, telling stories to the workers every night, teaching them to read, propagating revolutionary principles, encouraging the resistance to Japan, and being blinded by the capitalists. Gong Zhongtao was in a desperate situation, and the only option was to try his best to go home. He begged all the way from Shaanxi to Hebei, more than two thousand miles, nine deaths, and finally returned to Taicheng in the autumn of 1943.
At this time, the party leader Anping military and people were engaged in a deadly struggle with the Japanese. After Gong Zhongtao returned to the village, he asked someone to lead him to the county party committee, took over the organizational relationship, and pleaded with the party organization to assign him a job. The party organization was very concerned about this senior and took good care of him in his daily life. Although Gong Zhongtao is 57 years old and is old and disabled, he still beats the fiery heart of a Communist Party member, actively participates in the work within his ability, and gives advice and helps for the village party branch.
In his later years, Gong Zhongtao and his daughter Gong Nairu
Bow Zhongtao and grandson
On October 1, 1949, the founding of New China, Gong Zhongtao wept with joy. By this time, he was 63 years old. In 1950, Gong Zhongtao actively responded to the call of the central government and built the county's first "Bow and Yang Cooperative" in Taicheng Village, so that poor households with the surname of Bow and Yang and rich households with the surname of Bow could cooperate and help each other, and as many as 129 peasant households joined the cooperative. Seven wealthy families pooled their money to buy 3 rubber wheeled carts and 12 mules and horses, which helped many poor households.
In 1945, Gong Nairu was sent to work in the northeast, successively serving as the secretary of the district party committee in Jiamusi and Harbin, and later to the United Front Work Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China. In 1956, she took her father to live in Harbin. According to the standards of the old Red Army, the party organization paid a monthly living allowance to Gong Zhongtao, which made him feel the warmth of the party organization. But he was often sad that he could no longer work for the party, and he wept many times, saying: "I have not completed the tasks assigned by the party!" In 1959, Gong Zhongtao was paralyzed and bedridden, and died in 1964. Before dying, he repeatedly instructed: "I must give the party the 1,000 yuan I saved as my last membership fee!"
Gong Zhongtao devoted his life to the party, fulfilled his promise of "being the vanguard of the revolutionary movement for the proletariat" with practical actions, and wrote an indelible and brilliant stroke in the history of party building in rural China.
Source: The country's first rural party branch memorial hall
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