Zizhen He

Background

He Zizhen was born on September 28, 1909, in Huangzhuling Village in Yongxin County, Jiangxi, then part of China under the Qing dynasty's final historical period and the subsequent Republic of China. She was also known by the original name He Guiyuan. Her family and siblings became involved in the revolutionary movement in Jiangxi, a region that later became one of the principal bases of the Chinese Communist revolution.

She joined the Communist Youth League in 1925 and the Communist Party of China in 1926. Her early political activity coincided with the expansion of revolutionary organization in southern Jiangxi and the establishment of the Jinggangshan base, where armed struggle, local administration, and party mobilization were closely connected.

Education

He Zizhen studied at Yongxin Girls' School before entering revolutionary political work. The school belonged to the early twentieth-century expansion of modern education for women in Jiangxi, a period when girls' schools provided access to literacy and civic instruction beyond the traditional household setting.

During her treatment in the Soviet Union, she studied at Moscow Oriental University. The institution was part of the Soviet educational system established to train cadres and students from Asian countries and to provide instruction connected with revolutionary movements and the study of the East. Her Soviet education followed her participation in the Long March and occurred while she was recovering from serious wartime injuries.

Career

He Zizhen joined the revolutionary movement in Yongxin during the mid-1920s and became active in Communist Youth League and party work. In 1927 she participated in the Yongxin peasant armed uprising and went to the Jinggangshan revolutionary base with forces associated with Yuan Wencai. She subsequently served in party and Red Army offices, including work as a secretary, confidential officer, and head of a confidential section.

In 1928 she became associated with Mao Zedong and worked in the political and administrative institutions of the Jinggangshan base. She accompanied the Red Army during the Long March of 1934–1936 and served as a confidential secretary of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission. Accounts of the march describe her participation in combat and relief work; she was seriously wounded during an air raid while helping injured soldiers.

In 1937 she traveled to the Soviet Union for medical treatment related to injuries and illness sustained during the revolutionary campaigns. She continued her studies in Moscow, where the Soviet Union maintained institutions for foreign communist cadres and students. She returned to China in the late 1940s and worked in administrative posts, including a position in the Shenyang finance administration.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, He Zizhen became chair of the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Federation. The federation was part of the new state's system of mass organizations that represented women, promoted political mobilization, and connected social policy with party administration. Because of prolonged health problems, she later held administrative and consultative responsibilities while spending extended periods receiving treatment in Shanghai.

Achievements

• He Zizhen participated in the Long March of 1934–1936 and served within the Central Revolutionary Military Commission's confidential apparatus while accompanying the Red Army across China.

• She became one of the prominent women associated with the Jinggangshan revolutionary base and the early Red Army, combining party administration, confidential work, and military participation during the Chinese Communist revolution.

Politics

He Zizhen was a member of the Communist Party of China from 1926 and devoted her public life to the Chinese communist revolution. Her political activity developed during the revolutionary conflicts of the 1920s, when the Communist movement organized rural bases and armed resistance against the Nationalist government.

She held party and military administrative responsibilities in the revolutionary base areas, including work in Yongxin and Jingan, and served as a secretary and confidential officer within Red Army and party institutions. Her political career was shaped by the mobilization of women and the consolidation of communist authority in Jiangxi and the Jinggangshan region. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, she held senior women's-organization and administrative posts and later served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Personality

Accounts of He Zizhen describe her as a determined and resilient revolutionary who accepted military and political responsibilities under severe wartime conditions. Her participation in the Long March, despite serious injuries and repeated illness, is central to contemporary descriptions of her character.

Connections

He Zizhen was associated with Mao Zedong from 1928 and was his wife during the revolutionary period until their separation in 1937. Their family included several children, most of whom died young or were separated from their parents during the years of war and the Long March. Their surviving daughter, Li Min, was raised within Mao's family after He Zizhen went to the Soviet Union.

One daughter born during the Long March was left with a local family in Fujian and was later identified by He Zizhen's brother in 1973, although He Zizhen did not meet her. He Zizhen's brother He Minxue was also a revolutionary and later held provincial government responsibilities in Fujian.

husband:

Mao Zedong

Chinese revolutionary and founding leader of the People's Republic of China; he was associated with He Zizhen from 1928 until their separation in 1937.

Daughter:

Li Min

Surviving daughter of He Zizhen and Mao Zedong.

Brother:

He Minxue

Revolutionary associated with the Jiangxi and Fujian Communist movements who later held provincial government responsibilities in Fujian.

References

• He Zizhen — People's Daily Party History Channel Biographical account of He Zizhen's revolutionary activity, participation in the Jinggangshan base, relationship with Mao Zedong, and later life.
• Mao Zedong and He Zizhen at Lushan Historical account describing He Zizhen's participation in the Long March, her post-1949 work as chair of the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Federation, her health, and her later residence in Shanghai.
• Mao's Divorced Wife Back From Obscurity Contemporary report on He Zizhen's return to public life and her election to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
  1979