Before reading this article, I sincerely invite you to click the "Follow" button, so that you can continue to push such articles in the future, and it is also convenient for you to discuss and share, your support is the driving force for us to insist on creating~
Text | Edit: Shi Zai has no money
Preface
Zhang Qinqiu threw herself into the embrace of the revolution from a young age, and after hardships, she finally became a female general in the Red Fourth Front Army. Her life is an unremitting pursuit of ideals and love, as well as a helpless acceptance of fate. Through three marriages and overcoming obstacles, she has not only earned respect on the battlefield, but also demonstrated extraordinary strength and wisdom in ordinary daily life. However, why would such a strong and outstanding woman eventually choose to end her life by jumping off a building?
Zhang Qinqiu was born in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province in 1904 to an advanced and enlightened family. She attended a number of girls' schools, including Shimen Zhenhua Girls' School, Hangzhou Girls' Normal School, and Shanghai Patriotic Girls' School, a series of learning experiences that laid a solid foundation for her later political career.
During her years in Shanghai, Zhang Qinqiu not only focused on her studies, but also often visited her friend Kong Delan in elementary school. Through this social networking, she became acquainted with Kong Delan's husband, who later became a famous writer Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun). This relationship led her to further contact with Shen Yanbing's younger brother Shen Zemin, and the relationship between the two quickly warmed up, starting the first important emotional journey in her life.
Under the influence and guidance of Shen Zemin, Zhang Qinqiu joined the Communist Party of China in 1924 and became one of the early members of the party. Later, in 1925, she and Shen Zemin held a simple new-style wedding, and after the marriage, the two became neighbors with Shen Yanbing and Qu Qiubai and his wife, and lived together in a strong revolutionary atmosphere.
Soon after, Zhang Qinqiu and more than 100 other revolutionaries, including Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang, Wu Lanfu, and Wu Xiuquan, were sent to the Soviet Union for systematic study and training. In the spring of 1926, Shen Zemin also went to Moscow to attend the International Workers' Conference, and the couple's further study experience in the Soviet Union deepened their understanding and belief in communist theory. Their studies in the USSR were not only theoretical, and the two also became one of the famous "twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks".
In 1930, Zhang Qinqiu returned to China after completing her studies in the Soviet Union, and was soon transferred to the Red 73rd Division in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region as director of the Political Department. During this period, Zhang Qinqiu not only devoted himself to the construction of the Soviet area, but also actively participated in local political and educational activities, helping to improve the ideological awareness and combat morale of the Red Army soldiers.
With the strategic transfer of the Red Fourth Front Army, Zhang Qinqiu and her husband Shen Zemin had to face the situation of parting ways. She followed the Red Army to Sichuan and Shaanxi to open up new base areas, while Shen Zemin remained in place to continue leading the guerrilla war.
At a critical moment in 1933, Zhang Qinqiu, as the commander of 500 female soldiers, took on the heavy responsibility of transporting the wounded and supplies. During the difficult march, they were attacked by enemy troops. During this crisis, Zhang Qinqiu showed extraordinary leadership skills, leading the female warriors to not only successfully repel the enemy, but also capture a large number of guns and ammunition.
In addition, her influence caused many captured enemy soldiers to join the Communist Party, a feat that quickly spread in the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area, greatly boosting her popularity. In 1935, during the difficult Long March, Zhang Qinqiu reunited with his old comrade-in-arms Chen Changhao and formed a marriage. Chen Changhao studied in the Soviet Union and has a deep understanding of revolutionary ideas. Their marriage witnessed the most difficult years of the Red Army, including the heroic journey of climbing snowy mountains and crossing grasslands, and finally arriving in northern Shaanxi to set up camp.
In the Northwest Bureau, which was established in 1936, Zhang Qinqiu became the only female member, which was extremely rare in the senior leadership at that time, and fully reflected her important position in the party. In the same year, Zhang Qinqiu married Chen Changhao, the political commissar of the Red Fourth Front Army.
During a retreat battle, Zhang Qinqiu gave birth to a boy under extremely difficult conditions. Despite the harsh living conditions and the fact that the warriors used their bodies to build a protective ring for her, the child did not survive. The incident caused long-term health problems to Zhang Qinqiu's body, making it impossible for her to have children in the future.
Soon after, Zhang Qinqiu was captured by the enemy in a battle, and the enemy planned to escort her to Nanjing as a token of merit. This news has aroused great concern of the Party Central Committee. At this critical moment, Zhou Enlai successfully rescued Zhang Qinqiu and many other senior Red Army cadres through negotiations with the Kuomintang.
After returning to Yan'an, Zhang Qinqiu immediately asked the organization to arrange work again, and considering her health condition, the party organization arranged a relatively easy civilian job for her. In 1939, she was appointed Dean of Education at China Women's University. In this position, Zhang Qinqiu not only demonstrated her educational talents, but also used her life experience to inspire students, and was deeply loved by teachers and students.
However, family life was hit again by Chen Changhao's health problems. Chen Changhao had a serious stomach problem and needed to go to the Soviet Union for treatment. The outbreak of World War II prevented him from returning to China, and the long separation eventually led to the death of their marriage. After the approval of the organization, Zhang Qinqiu and Chen Changhao officially divorced, and Zhang Qinqiu faced new life challenges alone.
In 1943, she married Su Jingguan, the former director of the General Hospital of the Red Fourth Front Army. This marriage is also a mutual support and dependence during difficult years. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Qinqiu was entrusted with an important task and became the vice minister of the newly established Ministry of Textile Industry. Her influence and experience played a non-negligible role in the industrial development of New China.
In 1960, Zhang Qinqiu was appointed by the organization to conduct field research in Shanghai National Cotton Factory. Although she was provided with a comfortable place to live in a large hotel near the factory, Zhang Qinqiu chose to share a room with the workers and lived in a simple dormitory in the workshop. She explained to those around her: "The country is in a difficult period, and we, as cadres, should share weal and woe with the workers and embody the true qualities of Communist Party members."
As a ministerial-level senior official in the textile industry, Zhang Qinqiu has always put the interests of the country and the people in the first place. Her actions won the respect and love of the workers, and strengthened her influence at the grassroots level.
In the storm of the Cultural Revolution, Zhang Qinqiu was subjected to groundless accusations because of an inadvertent note. In the 1950s, Chairman Mao mentioned in a speech that "Yelang is arrogant and rejoices in great achievements", Zhang Qinqiu thought that this was reasonable, so he recorded this sentence on the title page of his notebook, and Mao Zedong's portrait happened to be printed next to it. This notebook was distributed by the department, and the title page was printed with a portrait of Chairman Mao, which was a way to pay tribute to the leader.
Unfortunately, this text has been misunderstood in political campaigns. Someone dug through this notebook from her home and misinterpreted her record out of context as disrespectful to Chairman Mao. Zhang Qinqiu was not given a chance to explain this misunderstanding, and was wrongly labeled as an "anti-party element."
In the early summer of 1966, Zhang Qinqiu was also hit by a chain of political shocks in the political storm. Her home was searched more than once, and the rebels took her cash, passbooks, clothes, furniture, as well as her books, diaries, work notes, and personal letters.
In this series of earth-shaking searches, Zhang Qinqiu encountered an extremely severe test. Members of the rebels intended to take away a number of valuable military history materials along with other confiscated items. These materials are extremely important to the history of the Red Fourth Front Army, and Zhang Qinqiu was responsible for keeping them as a member of the Editorial Committee of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. This committee was established after the liberation of the country, with Marshal Xu Xiangqian as its chairman, with the aim of compiling and preserving this precious history.
When the rebels tried to carry the materials, Zhang Qinqiu stood firmly in front of them, and her actions showed that she valued and protected them. She insisted: "Homes can be raided and private belongings can be seized, but these historical materials about the Red Fourth Front Army must not be taken lightly, they are the precious wealth of the party and must be managed by the state."
When the rebel members pushed her away and prepared to take the documents with them, Zhang Qinqiu was in a hurry and decided to turn to a higher authority. She sent a distress signal and sent a telegram directly to Premier Zhou Enlai's office, the content of which was full of urgency and sincerity: "I can bear personal loss, but I cannot bear the history of the Red Fourth Front Army being lightly handled, and these materials should be respected and protected by the state."
In the middle of the night on April 22, 1968, after a long period of criticism and physical and mental torture, Zhang Qinqiu was exhausted. That night, she whispered a song of the Russian Revolution, then suddenly stood up and jumped out of the window of her imprisonment, ending her magnificent but tragic life at the age of 64. Zhang Qinqiu's tragic death has become a painful memory of that turbulent era.
After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, the unjust case against Zhang Qinqiu was finally completely rehabilitated. On June 23, 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a grand memorial service for her. On that day, Li Xiannian, Wang Zhen, Yu Qiuli, Chen Xilian, Hu Yaobang, Xu Xiangqian, and other senior leaders of the party and the state attended the ceremony one after another to express their deep remembrance of this innocent revolutionary veteran. Marshal Xu Xiangqian not only attended in person, but also presided over the entire memorial service.
At the memorial service, the eulogy approved and read out by the Party Central Committee spoke highly of Zhang Qinqiu's life. The eulogy pointed out: "Comrade Zhang Qinqiu has demonstrated firm revolutionary will and selfless dedication in the arduous years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and in the stormy journey of socialist revolution and construction. Her entire life fully embodied the lofty concept and practice of serving the people wholeheartedly as a Communist Party member.
After the memorial service, many old comrades-in-arms and people in the old areas from all over the country, especially the residents of Dabie Mountain, Daba Mountain, and Qilian Mountain, expressed their deep nostalgia for Zhang Qinqiu in different ways. Her contribution to the textile industry and her efforts to improve people's livelihood in these old liberated areas are remembered by countless people.
Zhang Qinqiu's life is a life of dedication to the construction of New China. Her work has not only won her numerous honors, but also contributed greatly to China's industrialization process. Despite the many blows in her personal life, she never let her personal feelings affect her persistent pursuit of revolution. Zhang Qinqiu's story is a magnificent historical epic, but also a profound story of sacrifice, courage and commitment.