1931
Jiangxi Province, China
A group photo of Kang Keqing (L1 in the back) and her comrades (Kang, Qian Xijun, Zhou Yuexiu and He Zizhen, from left to right in the back; Zeng Biyi and Peng Ru, from left to right in the front), when the Soviet Republic of China was officially established in Ruijin, a county in east China's Jiangxi Province.
1935
Kang Keqing is the wife of Zhu De (also known as Chu Teh), one of the top military leaders of the Red Army. She was a soldier during the Long March in 1935.
1940
Yan'an, China
A photo of Kang Keqing (R) and He Zizhen at the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University in Yan'an.
1940
Yan'an, China
Kang Keqing (R) and He Zizhen at the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University.
1949 - 1975
1931
Jiangxi Province, China
A group photo of Kang Keqing (L1 in the back) and her comrades (Kang, Qian Xijun, Zhou Yuexiu and He Zizhen, from left to right in the back; Zeng Biyi and Peng Ru, from left to right in the front), when the Soviet Republic of China was officially established in Ruijin, a county in east China's Jiangxi Province.
1935
Kang Keqing is the wife of Zhu De (also known as Chu Teh), one of the top military leaders of the Red Army. She was a soldier during the Long March in 1935.
1940
Yan'an, China
Kang Keqing (R) and He Zizhen at the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University.
1940
Yan'an, China
A photo of Kang Keqing (R) and He Zizhen at the Counter-Japanese Military and Political University in Yan'an.
康克清
Kang Keqing was born on 7 September 1911 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. She was born into a poor fisherman's family. One of ten children, she was sold to a poor, childless family in infancy. At fifteen she cut her hair to signify her commitment to the revolution.
Kang was highly studious and Zhu De taught her to read and write before their marriage.
After the Long March, Kang attended the Anti-Japanese University (Kangri Junzheng University) and the Central Party School in Yan'an.
In 1934 the Chinese Nationalist forces succeeded in driving the Communists out of the area they controlled. Kang became known as "the girl commander" when she assumed command of a battalion of 800 men whose leader had been killed in one of these actions. The defeated Communists set out to begin again in the northern city of Yanan, 6,000 miles away. The retreat, known as the Long March, crossed several major mountain ranges, forded dozens of rivers, and fought a battle roughly every other day. Kang traveled with the 1st Front Army, a strictly disciplined unit of the top leadership. Only healthy women were allowed to travel; most had previous experience in Party cadres, and all were required to leave their children behind with adoptive families. They often marched at night to avoid air attacks. The survivors - 8,000 of the 100,000, including 35 women, who had set out from Jiangxi - had truly been through the fire. In her later life, Kang played down the rigors of the Long March, saying, "It was just like going out for a stroll every day," but it was a stroll on which she carried a rifle and two pistols and, at times, wounded comrades. She was one of the thousands of women and children who participated in the Long March; most served in support roles (collecting and preparing food, caring for the sick and wounded) and in functions such as propaganda and recruitment. Some women participated in the fighting, and there were a few all-female units, such as the Women's Engineering Battalion of the 4th Front Army in Sichuan (some 2,000 women served in that army).
After the success of the Communist revolution in 1949, Kang held a number of government positions as leader of the Women's Federation and a member of the National People's Congress. In 1977, after the death of her husband, she became a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, retiring in 1985. Afterward, Kang avoided political power struggles but continued to make ceremonial appearances to meet children or to congratulate the Women's Federation on its achievements.
Kang's ideology in the fight for women's liberation is embodied in the slogan 'Seek liberation in war, seek equality in production'. 'Liberation in war' referred to women joining the revolutionary struggle to attain equality, while 'equality in production' meant that women should attain powers equal to those granted to men. This included the right to labor, which Kang considered fundamental to improving women's economic position. Kang argued 'equality' should also be expanded to politics, culture, science, and technology.
Kang Keqing joined the Communist Youth League when she was fifteen years old and soon afterward ran away to join the guerrillas at Jinggangshan, thus escaping the marriage that had been arranged for her.
She also was a member of the Communist Party’s powerful Central Committee and the Legislature’s Standing Committee.
She chaired the All-China Women's Federation, the Chinese Children's Fund, Soong Ching-ling Foundation, and other organizations relating to women and children.
Kang was interviewed by the American journalist Helen Foster Snow during her stay in Yan'an. She commented on the military situation, telling Foster Snow that the army's numbers were a problem, but the issue of weaponry was urgent. Kang maintained contact with Foster Snow after this, even giving a speech at a 1991 conference congratulating her on being made Friendship Ambassador to China.
Physical Characteristics: Kang carried a rifle as if it were a part of her and, like the men, she walked with lithe decision and certainty. A woman of medium height and shingled hair, she wore the usual clean blue jacket and long loose trousers of the peasant woman. Her face was pock-marked and men said that because of this she was not beautiful. She had large black eyes that were beautiful and shone with the fire of conviction, and when she smiled, two rows of white teeth gleamed between beautiful red lips.
On 30 December 1930 Kang was married to Zhu De, commander of the Communist forces.
