Liao Zhongkai: Sacrificing for the party and the country is the long-cherished wish of revolutionaries

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Liao Zhongkai - Sacrificing for the Party and the Country is the Long-cherished Wish of Revolutionaries (100-Year Voyage with "Overseas Chinese" Wonderful (7))

Liao Zhongkai was born on April 23, 1877 in San Francisco, USA, to an overseas Chinese business family. After his father's death in 1893, he returned to Guangzhou with his mother and joined his uncle Liao Zhigang, who was then the general office of the Investment Bureau of the Qing government, and enrolled in Queen's College in Hong Kong in 1896. In 1897, under the arrangement of his uncle, he married Ho Xiangning, the daughter of The Hong Kong real estate developer Ho Dai, in Guangzhou.

During the Sino-Japanese War, China was bullied by imperialism, which gave birth to Liao Zhongkai's strong patriotic and democratic ideas. In 1903, Liao Zhongkai and He Xiangning traveled east to Japan to study, seeking a way to save the country and save the people. During their stay in Japan, the couple met Dr. Sun Yat-sen and were deeply impressed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen's firm revolutionary conviction and spirit, and they expressed to Dr. Sun Yat-sen that "if they want to participate in revolutionary work, they are willing to be effective." Since then, the couple firmly supported Dr. Sun Yat-sen and embarked on the arduous road of democratic revolution.

In 1905, Liao Zhongkai and He Xiangning assisted Dr. Sun Yat-sen in establishing the Chinese League Association, and Liao Zhongkai served as the deputy chief accountant of the headquarters of the League, the officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The couple's home in Tokyo became a liaison station and meeting place for revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen.

In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the decadent rule of the Qing government. Liao Zhongkai returned to Guangzhou and successively served as the Governor of Guangdong Governor's General Counselor, the Minister of Finance of the Presidential Office, and the Director of the Department of Finance of Guangdong Province. He Xiangning also arrived in Guangzhou to assist her husband. In May 1912, Liao Zhongkai was appointed as the financial director of the Guangdong military government, implementing the land tax exchange law, sorting out the finance and taxation measures. But the fruits of the Xinhai Revolution were soon stolen by Yuan Shikai. In August 1913, the "Second Revolution" failed, but Liao Zhongkai and He Xiangning unswervingly followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen and organized the "Three Revolutions" to travel to Japan, Shanghai and Guangdong. On March 22, 1916, yuan shikai was forced to abolish the imperial system under the blow of several uprisings launched by revolutionaries.

In August 1922, Dr. Sun Yat-sen met with communist leader Li Dazhao and representatives of the Soviet envoy Yue Fei, and resolved to unite with the Russian Communist Party and accept the proposal to reorganize the Kuomintang. Liao Zhongkai was twice ordered to go to Japan to hold talks with Viet Fei, and played a crucial role in the process of kuomintang reorganization.

In January 1924, the First National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang was held in Guangzhou, and Liao Zhongkai was elected as a member of the Central Executive Committee and concurrently served as the director of the Workers' Department of the Central Party Department and the Minister of Peasants. In the same year, Liao Zhongkai assisted Dr. Sun Yat-sen in the preparation of the Whampoa Military Academy and served as the acting chairman of the Whampoa Military Academy Preparatory Committee.

After the founding of the Kuomintang, the National Revolutionary Movement flourished throughout the country. Liao Zhongkai attached great importance to the role of the Communist Party of China and the workers' and peasants' movement in the national revolution, cooperated sincerely with the Communist Party, and actively supported the workers' and peasants' movement.

After the death of Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, Liao Zhongkai continued to firmly defend the three major policies of "uniting with Russia, uniting with the Communist Party, and supporting peasants and workers", supported the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, safeguarded the direction of the National Revolution, and constantly criticized and exposed the essence of the Kuomintang rightists, which aroused the hatred of the Kuomintang rightists. Liao Zhongkai said calmly: "Life and death are up to him, and I can never relax in the revolution." He also said: "Sacrificing for the party and the country is the long-cherished wish of revolutionaries. ”

On August 20, 1925, Liao Zhongkai was assassinated by a mob raised by the right wing of the Kuomintang on his way to attend a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee in front of the Central Party Headquarters Building.

Liao Zhongkai was an important promoter of the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation and made immortal contributions to China's democratic revolution. Zhou Enlai once praised him for "fighting hard all his life, revolution for the party, sacrifice for the country", and highly praised him as the center of gravity of the Kuomintang and "the active leader of the workers' and peasants' movement and the anti-imperialist movement". (Zhang Chunwang)