Zeng Xianzhi (; 23 January 1910 – 11 October 1989) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

revolutionary and politician. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, girls in schools was a new thing, but Zeng was a member of the girls' basketball team in school. She became a "student soldier" in a branch campus of

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China's ...

. Zeng was one of the first female soldiers in China during the Revolution. After the establishment of the Communist State, she spent over 40 years working in the All-China Women's Federation. She devoted all her life to the Chinese women's rights movement.

Biography

Early life and education

Zeng was born on January 23, 1910, at Baishutang () in Changsha, Hunan, with her ancestral home in Xiangxiang (now Shuangfeng County). She was a descendant of Zeng Guoquan, a renowned general in the late

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

and one of three brothers of Zeng Guofan. She had five siblings. Her siblings were, in order of birth: Zeng Xianpu (; 1908-1966), Zeng Xiankai (; 1908-1985), Zeng Xianzhen (; 1911-1997), Zeng Xianzhu (; 1919-1986), and Zeng Xianju (). In 1916 she attended Changsha Gudaotian Normal School (). Under the influence of Xu Teli, she threw herself into China's revolution. In 1926, she was accepted to the Wuhan Central Military and Political Academy. Whilst still nominally at school she participated in the Northern Expedition.

Revolutionary career

In 1927, Zeng went to Guangzhou to help organize the Guangzhou Uprising. She joined the Communist Party of China in 1928. She was a member of the Communist underground party in Shanghai under "legal" cover as a student of

South China University South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

. In May 1929 she was arrested by the Nationalist government for participating in anti-government protests. After her release she pursued advanced studies in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Zeng returned to China in 1931. In 1937 she worked in ''

Xinhua Daily ''Xinhua Daily'' () was the first public newspaper published in the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is owned by the Jiangsu Committee of the CCP. History The ''Xinhua Daily'' was founded in Hankou on 11 Januar ...

'' in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. Two years later, she was transferred to Guilin as traffic coordinator of the

Eighth Route Army The Eighth Route Army (), officially known as the 18th Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, was a group army under the command of the Chinese Communist Party, nominally within the structure of the Chinese ...

. In 1941 she entered the Yan'an Marxism–Leninism College and the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China; after graduation, she worked in the Dihou Gongzuo Department of the CPC Central Committee (). In the spring of 1946, she attended the Chongqing Negotiations with the Communist delegation. She successively served as secretary of Deng Yingchao and group leader of the Southern Bureau Women's Group (). In March 1947, she transferred to the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei Border Region () and attended the Land Reform Movement ().

After the founding of the Communist State

At the beginning of 1949, Zeng was appointed deputy secretary-general of the First National Women's Congress. This was China's first national congress for women and 500 delegates heard Mao Zedong tell them to increase production and to demand their rights. After the congress Zeng worked in the All-China Women's Federation until the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, she was called a "big black umbrella" () and "alien-class element" () by the Communist government, and she was sent to the May Seventh Cadre Schools in Hengshui County, Hebei to be re-educated and to do farm work. In 1974, after seeing his mother's unfair treatment,

Ye Xuanning Ye Xuanning (; October 1938 – 10 July 2016) was a Chinese politician, general and businessman. Early life and education Ye was born in British Hong Kong in October 1938, the son of Ye Jianying, a Communist general, Marshal of the People's L ...

wrote a letter to Mao Zedong who approved Zeng's return to Beijing. In September 1978, Zeng was elected vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation at the Fourth National Women's Congress. She was a delegate to the

1st National People's Congress The 1st National People's Congress () was in session from 1954 to 1959. It held four sessions in this period. There were 1226 deputies to the Congress. These were the first legislative elections to take place after the founding of the People's R ...

, a member of the 3rd and 6th National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

, and a Standing Committee member of the 4th and 5th National Committee of the

. On October 11, 1989, she died of illness in Macau.

Personal life

In 1928, Zeng married Ye Jianying, who later became one of the founding

Ten Marshals () was a Chinese military rank that corresponds to a marshal in other nations. It was given to distinguished generals during China's dynastic and republican periods. A higher level rank of ''Dayuanshuai'' (), which corresponds to ''generalissi ...

of the People's Republic of China. They had a son,

(1938-2016).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeng, Xianzhi 1910 births 1989 deaths Politicians from Loudi Whampoa Military Academy alumni Chinese women in politics Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan All-China Women's Federation people