She was one of the earliest party members of our party, the highest-ranking female general during the Long March of the Red Army, and 17 well-known republican generals, including Chen Geng, Xu Shiyou, Hong Xuezhi, Wang Jian'an, and Liu Huaqing, were all her subordinates.
She was a classmate of Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang, Wu Lanfu, Wu Xiuquan, Bogu and others, and was once listed as a member of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee alongside Zhu De, Ren Bishi and other senior CPC generals, and was the only woman among the members.
Like Mu Guiying, she gave birth before the battle, and once led a 500-strong women's independent regiment to defeat a regiment of the White Army and capture the leader of the White Army.
She is Zhang Qinqiu.
In November 1904, Zhang Qinqiu was born into a wealthy family in Tongxiang County, Zhejiang Province. When she was 8 years old, her parents sent her to study at a girls' school, which was 8 years. In 1923, Zhang Qinqiu was admitted to the Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts. Not long after the start of school, there was a change in the family, zhang Qinqiu had to interrupt her studies and return to her hometown, and began to work as a teacher at the girls' school where she originally studied to help the family.
Zhang Qinqiu has a lively and outgoing personality and is good at thinking. After she returned to her hometown to teach, she gradually came into contact with society outside the books. The corruption and decline of the country, the hardships of the survival of the people at the bottom have touched her, where is the way out for the country and the people? She always asked herself, and when she couldn't find someone to talk about around, she often exchanged letters with her pen pal Shen Zemin and confided in the confusion in her heart.
When she was in elementary school at Shimen Zhenhua Girls' School, Zhang Qinqiu befriended her female classmate Kong Delan [zhǐ]. Kong's husband is a famous Chinese writer Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun), Zhang Qinqiu later studied at the Shanghai Patriotic Girls' School, often visited Kong Delan and his wife who were also in Shanghai, so he got to know Shen Yanbing's younger brother Shen Zemin.
Teenager Zhang Qinqiu (first from left)
The two young people are both intersecting and like-minded, getting along for a long time, and gradually developing a good feeling for each other.
Shen Zemin was already a member of the Shanghai Communist Group at that time, and he was very concerned about Zhang Qinqiu, and in addition to letters, he also sent her many progressive books and newspapers. The advanced revolutionary concept opened a window of light for Zhang Qinqiu, and the ideal and ambition of saving the country and the people gradually took root in her heart.
Also taking root is the relationship between her and Shen Zemin.
In April 1924, Zhang Qinqiu joined the Communist Youth League through the introduction of Yang Zhihua, the wife of Qu Qiubai, and in November of the same year, he transferred to the Communist Party of China and became closer to Shen Zemin. The following year, two lovers held a new-style wedding in Shanghai. Soon after the new marriage, Zhang Qinqiu was sent by the organization to the Soviet Union and went to moscow to study at Sun Yat-sen University.
Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin's new wedding photos
A year later, Shen Zemin also came to Zhang Qinqiu's side. As early members of the Ccp, they were among the "twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks" along with Chen Changhao, who later became Zhang Qinqiu's second husband.
After returning to China after completing his studies in 1930, Shen Zemin was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Eyu-Anhui Branch Bureau and secretary of the Eyu-Anhui Provincial Party Committee, and Zhang Qinqiu was appointed as the director of the Political Department of the Military Academy of Eyu-Anhui Soviet District. The pair of revolutionary companions who raised eyebrows and sang with their husbands and women became the most beautiful scenery in the Eyu-Anhui Su District at that time.
In everyone's impression, Secretary Shen is polite and kind, and Director Zhang is warm and cheerful. During the day, the secretary led everyone to military exercises and agricultural work; at night, the director would always lead everyone to sing Russian songs and dance Soviet dances around the campfire. Zhang Qinqiu is cultured, foreign language, knowledgeable, cheerful, and a rare female hero in the Red Army, and has become an idol in the hearts of female fighters.
In the autumn of 1932, Chiang Kai-shek gathered 200,000 troops to "encircle and suppress" the Soviet zone. In the face of the menacing Kuomintang army, Xu Xiangqian, Chen Changhao, and other major generals of the Red Army advocated preserving the living forces, temporarily leaving the Eyu-Anhui Soviet area, avoiding the enemy's attack and then trying to recover the area, but Shen Zemin did not agree. He formed a deep friendship with the military and people of the Soviet zone, unwilling to abandon them to follow the transfer of large troops, and insisted on staying in the Soviet zone to continue his work.
Zhang Qinqiu with Mao Dun, Yang Zhihua (second from left), and Kong Delan
At this time, Zhang Qinqiu had been transferred to the director of the political department of the 73rd Division, and had to move with the troops and separate from her husband. But who knows, this separation turned out to be a farewell.
In November 1933, Shen Zemin contracted malaria. In the harsh environment of lack of medical treatment and medicine, he could not be treated in time, and he had to persist in fighting the enemy, and finally died of illness and fatigue on November 20, 1933, at the age of 34.
On April 15, 1963, Zhang Qinqiu held Shen Zemin's tombstone in tears at the funeral ceremony of Shen Zemin. She said affectionately that Zemin was the guide on my revolutionary road, and without him, I would not have found the party and would never have embarked on the revolutionary road.
Zhang Qinqiu took a group photo with Ding Ling and daughter Maya
She has since been on the bedside with two photos of Shen Zemin, expressing her infinite thoughts about this unfortunate deceased relative.
In the late autumn of 1932, the Red Fourth Front army was transferred to the Sichuan-Shaanxi revolutionary base area, and after the Xiaohekou Conference, Zhang Qinqiu became the director of the political department of the Red Fourth Front. The Red Fourth Front has a long history and many talents, and the later founding generals Chen Geng, Xu Shiyou, Hong Xuezhi, Liu Huaqing and others all came from this unit. Zhang Qinqiu later served as director of the political department of the General Hospital of the Red Fourth Front, head of the Women's Independent Regiment and political commissar.
In July 1936, Zhang Qinqiu became a member of the Northwest Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, alongside Zhu De, Liu Bocheng, Ren Bishi and others.
Zhang Qinqiu was the only woman among the senior and important generals of the Red Army at that time, which was different from Deng Yingchao, Liu Ying, He Zizhen, Cai Chang and others. Although these elder sisters also participated in the Long March, most of them did secretarial, confidential or party and women-related work, and did not hold real positions in the Red Army combat troops, so Zhang Qinqiu was the only senior female general in the Red Army.
Group photo with Deng Yingchao, Kang Keqing and others
At that time, there was a women's regiment in the Red Fourth Front, which Zhang Qinqiu himself pulled up.
After the Red Army entered the Dabashan area, the spirited female soldiers of the Red Army made the poor girls and daughters-in-law in the mountains boil up, and they asked to join the Red Army. Zhang Qinqiu, after asking the Central Military Commission for approval, organized them to form a women's independent regiment, and Zhang Qinqiu personally served as the head of the regiment and political commissar.
This independent women's regiment, which was ignored by the regular Red Army troops, later did a big thing and greatly increased its ambition for itself.
On a journey to transport the wounded, the Women's Independent Regiment encountered Liu Hanxiong of the Sichuan Army at KucaoBa. Although the women had no actual combat experience, Zhang Qinqiu did not panic, and she commanded the female fighters to ambush in the bushes in advance, waiting for the enemy to enter the firing range and unexpectedly firing violently.
The Sichuan army thought that it had met the main force of the Red Army, and did not dare to love the war, so it turned around and ran. Zhang Qinqiu led the soldiers to take advantage of the victory to pursue, not only surrendered the entire regiment of white troops, but also captured one of their regimental commanders alive.
This battle made the women's independent regiment famous, the record of "500 peasant women paying a regiment" became a sensational news in the base areas and even in the enemy-occupied areas, and Zhang Qinqiu also became a well-known heroic female general.
Zhang Qinqiu fought bravely and with the same tough style, and like Mu Guiying in the Yang family, she had given birth to children in battle—it happened in 1936.
In July 1936, with the help of comrades, Zhang Qinqiu married Chen Changhao, political commissar of the Red Fourth Front, and in October, Zhang Qinqiu was appointed as the head of the organization department of the Western Route Army. At the end of February 1937, the Western Route Army was ambushed by Ma Bufang's cavalry and infantry during the transfer. Zhang Qinqiu led the warriors to break through. Despite the fact that she was pregnant, she commanded the various departments to brave the cold and find a breakthrough.
Chen Changhao (right) and his second son Chen Zutao
Late at night, the temperature plummeted, the sky was drifting with goose feathers and heavy snow, and the gunshots that were close at hand rose and fell, Zhang Qinqiu suddenly felt a sharp pain, and almost fainted in front of his eyes. Huang Zhiting, a military doctor accompanying him, came to check and found that Zhang Qinqiu was about to be in the basin after being frightened. There was nothing on the vast Gobi Desert, and there were still enemies behind him, Zhang Qinqiu tried hard to raise his spirits, but he could not stand up softly.
Minister of Health Su Jingguan rushed to hear the news and immediately asked everyone to collect the few worn-out military coats they had, and then arranged for several young soldiers to surround Zhang Qinqiu back to back. After a while, accompanied by the sound of popcorn-like gunshots, the loud cries of newborn babies cut through the dark night sky.
Zhang Qinqiu and Chen Changhao's son was born, the father was not around, and the exhausted Zhang Qinqiu took the child and kissed his little face with difficulty, and tears fell like rain. She knew that in this environment, it was doomed to be unable to survive a small life, a child with troops, and she could only choose the latter.
The child had no name, did not eat a mouthful of milk, and did not even open his eyes to look at his mother, and was placed in the snow by Zhang Qinqiu himself.
Zhang Qinqiu, who is cool and heroic
Zhang Qinqiu was helped by the soldiers to the war horse, she wiped a handful of tears, and led the team away without looking back. Behind him, the cry of the baby came out of the far away...
This was the only child between Zhang Qinqiu and Chen Changhao, and she has not had children since.
In 1938, due to the failure of the breakthrough, Zhang Qinqiu was captured by Ma Bufang and escorted to the "Capital Reflection Institute" in Nanjing, along with several other Red Army generals. Chiang Kai-shek had already heard of this rumored female general of the Red Army and intended to adopt her for his own use. In the face of the reactionaries' threats and inducements, Zhang Qinqiu showed the integrity of a loyal Communist Party member, withstood the torment of the enemy, and did not waver in the slightest.
In 1937, during the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Under the negotiation of Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying and others, Zhang Qinqiu broke away from the claws of the Kuomintang and returned to Yan'an. In Yan'an, she was reunited with Chen Changhao.
In August 1937, Zhang Qinqiu (first from left) was released from Nanjing
However, the good times did not last long, and in the summer of 1939, Chen Changhao flew to Moscow to treat a stomach disease. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Chen Changhao, who had already recovered, was forced to stay and could not return to China. In desperation, with the approval of the organization, Zhang Qinqiu and Chen Changhao ended their marriage for less than 3 years.
It is worth mentioning that after Chen Changhao left Yan'an, his original partner Liu Xiuzhen took their eldest son to defect to Chen Changhao. At this time, Chen and Zhang were divorced, but seeing that Liu Xiuzhen's mother and son were unaccompanied and in an embarrassing situation, Zhang Qinqiu still took the initiative to help the mother and son settle down in Yan'an.
The road to revolution is bumpy and bumpy, and revolutionaries are not alone. In the spring of 1943, in the cave dwellings of Yan'an, Zhang Qinqiu married Su Jingguan, an old comrade-in-arms of the former Red Fourth Front. The one who officiated them was their old superior, Xu Xiangqian, and many veteran soldiers of the former Red Fourth Front army came to their wedding. The 39-year-old Zhang Qinqiu and the 38-year-old Su Jingguan experienced the war-torn era, from acquaintance, to acquaintance, to love, in the holy land of the revolution, staged a legendary story with a touching ending.
Zhang Qinqiu and her husband Su Jingguan
While in Yan'an, Zhang Qinqiu founded the China Women's University (NÜSA). This is the first institution of higher learning in China's modern and contemporary history to be established for women, and the main teaching content is culture class and Marxism-Leninism, with Zhang Qinqiu as the head of education.
When it comes to women's self-reliance and self-reliance, Zhang Qinqiu herself is a good example. She devoted herself to all her enthusiasm for the women's university, personally holding many positions such as teaching and management. In Yan'an at that time, girls from every family took entering the women's university and finding Zhang Qinqiu to study as the ideal and goal of struggle. Zhang Qinqiu's efforts have set a benchmark and model for women's work after the founding of New China.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, because of the needs of work, Zhang Qinqiu left the army and served as the vice minister of the State Textile Industry. As a result, she lost the opportunity to confer military ranks, and many veteran officers and soldiers of the army talked about it, believing that Zhang Qinqiu's ability and qualifications should at least be awarded the rank of lieutenant general. In this regard, Zhang Qinqiu, who is indifferent to fame and fortune, does not care. In her heart, as long as she has the opportunity to work and pay for the country and the people, no matter what kind of position she is in, it is the same.
On April 22, 1968, Zhang Qinqiu died in Beijing.
In 1979, Marshal Xu Qianqian personally presided over the meeting, and Li Xiannian, Hu Yaobang, Bo Yibo and other leading comrades personally attended Zhang Qinqiu's memorial service. In her eulogy, Zhang Qinqiu was called "an outstanding female fighter of the proletariat, an excellent Communist Party member... For more than forty years since he joined the revolution, he has always been loyal to the Party, the people and the proletarian revolutionary cause... Her life was a life of revolution, a life of fighting, a life of serving the people wholeheartedly."
This should be regarded as the best summary of her life.