Chen Gang (; 1906–1967) was a Chinese intelligence officer and a member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

's security services. Born in Fushun County,

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

province, Chen entered China University () in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in 1925 and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in January 1927. In 1935, he was sent by the party to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he studied at the International Lenin School for two years. Upon returning to China in 1937, he was assigned to work in

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an ...

, where he participated in building up the security services and intelligence and counterintelligence organ of the CCP leadership and, during the

Anti-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Thea ...

, worked as an officer in the Central Social Affairs Department (

SAD Sadness is an emotional pain associated with, or characterized by, feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw them ...

). Chen led a contingent of some one hundred or more

officers to liberated

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

shortly after the end of World War II and remained active in that part of China until December 1948, when he was recalled to party central and appointed deputy director of the

. (One source claims that he had in fact been promoted to this post already when departing Yan'an for Manchuria in November 1945.Xiu Lairong, 陈龙传(''Biography of Chen Long'') (Beijing: Qunzhong chubanshe, 1996), p. 202) Chen was in Beiping (Beijing) in his

deputy director capacity until the summer of 1949. At this time, at his own request, he was transferred to his native province of Sichuan where, during the next decade and a half, he would hold a number of senior party positions in the industrial and labour sectors in, in addition to being a concurrent member of the CCP Central Supervisory Commission. Purged in the autumn of 1966, at the start of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Chen was officially rehabilitated in May 1973.

References

* 中共党史人物传 (''Biographies of Persons in the History of the Chinese Communist Party''), vol. 34. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe, 1987, pp. 208–229. 1906 births 1967 deaths Chinese Communist Party politicians from Sichuan Chinese spies Delegates to the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party People persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution People's Republic of China politicians from Sichuan Politicians from Zigong {{espionage-bio-stub