In the life of the great man Mao Zedong, there were six women who had the deepest influence on him.
They are the mother Wen Qimei, the wife Luo Shi who had an arranged marriage, the cousin who was ignorant and admiring when she was young, the love of her life Yang Kaihui, the revolutionary partner He Zizhen, and the last wife Jiang Qing.
Hometown Shaoshan Three women who influenced Mao Zedong
In Mao Zedong's life, among the six women who had a profound impact on him, the first three appeared in Mao Zedong's hometown, Shaoshan.
The first woman was naturally Mao Zedong's mother Wen Qimei. Although this rural woman had little education, her strong and kind moral character had a profound influence on Mao Zedong.
When Mao Zedong recalled his mother in the future, he once told the American reporter Snow that his mother was a generous and kind-hearted person. She was always willing to help others and pitied the poor.
It is said that parents are the first teachers in life. It was under the influence of his mother's moral character and conduct that Mao Zedong cared for the poor throughout his life and took it as his duty to benefit the poor.
Mao Zedong’s mother passed away in 1919. At that time, Mao Zedong received the news that his mother was critically ill. Although Mao Zedong hurried back to Shaoshan, he was not able to see his mother for the last time. This was something that Mao Zedong regretted throughout his life.
Mao Zedong once had an arranged marriage in his hometown. Although this woman and Mao Zedong had basically never lived together, this marriage had a profound impact on the formation of Mao Zedong's aspirations.
The surname of this woman who had a profound influence on Mao Zedong was Luo, and she was more than four years older than Mao Zedong. In 1906, Mao Zedong had a dispute with his father because he was dissatisfied with the feudal ideas of his private school teachers. Worried about Mao Zedong's disobedient father, he came up with the idea of finding a marriage for him so that he could start a family and start a business in his hometown.
This arranged marriage naturally made Mao Zedong extremely dissatisfied. He had already begun to open his eyes to the world at that time, and naturally he would not be willing to die as a feudal landlord in his hometown of Shaoshan. The young Mao Zedong was still unable to resist, but he and Luo had never had a real family life.
From 1906, apart from working in the fields and helping his father keep accounts, Mao Zedong read voraciously. He borrowed almost all the books he could borrow, and began to think about the future and way out of the country and society. As he read more and thought more deeply, he became more and more eager to get rid of this arranged marriage and get out of Shaoshan.
Luo died of illness in 1910. This unfortunate tragedy brought unexpected relief to Mao Zedong. More than half a year after Luo's death, Mao Zedong, with the help of his cousin, uncle, school teacher and relatives, persuaded his father to enter the gate of Dongshan Higher Primary School in Xiangxiang, thus opening a new page in his life. Although
and Luo had never lived together, this arranged marriage had a profound impact on the young Mao Zedong. It can be said to be the catalyst that prompted him to embark on the road of revolution against feudalism.
In 1919, a young woman committed suicide in Changsha because she resisted an arranged marriage. Mao Zedong, who had already learned a lot, published more than 10 commentaries in Hunan's Ta Kung Pao, lashing out at the destruction of human nature by arranged marriages and other feudal systems. This also shows Mao Zedong's hatred of feudal arranged marriages.
In his hometown of Shaoshan, apart from his mother and his wife surnamed Luo, who had an arranged marriage, Mao Zedong also had an ignorant first love.
When Mao Zedong was in Shaoshan, he had a very good relationship with his cousin Wang Shigu. Wang Shigu's mother was the sister of Mao Zedong's mother, and the relationship between the two families was very close.
Wang Shigu is one or two years older than Mao Zedong. The two of them often went to their grandmother's house to play when they were young. They were childhood sweethearts. As they grew older, the two of them had a vague fondness for each other.
In the rural areas of Hunan at that time, it was common for cousins to get married and become in-laws. Therefore, the two people had inexplicable expectations for each other's future. But later, I don't know who invited a fortune teller and calculated that the two people's horoscopes were incompatible, so the matter was dropped.
Later, Wang Shigu hurriedly got engaged and got married, but unfortunately, Wang Shigu died of illness soon after getting married, leaving no heirs.
Many years later, Mao Zedong still remembered that this cousin had a good personality, fair skin, and a pair of slender hands. He even held hands with his cousin, which shows that this relationship is not light in Mao Zedong's heart.
The love of his life Yang Kaihui
After leaving his hometown of Shaoshan, Mao Zedong went around in circles and finally established his lifelong belief in communism. In the process of pursuing a way out to save the country and the people, he met the love of his life: Yang Kaihui in Changsha, Hunan.
In 1914, Mao Zedong came to Changsha, Hunan, and entered Hunan Provincial First Normal University to study. Mao Zedong was an older student here, but his profound knowledge, diligent attitude and extraordinary thoughts made the teachers and classmates around him very admired.
Professor Yang Changji, who was teaching at Hunan Provincial First Normal University, particularly admired Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong also admired this teacher very much, and the two formed a deep relationship between teacher and student.
The period when he was studying in Changsha, Hunan Province was a particularly important period in the first half of Mao Zedong's life. During this period, he worked hard, studied hard, and read extensively.
It was also during this period that the bud of love slowly emerged between him and Yang Kaihui, the daughter of his mentor Yang Changji.
Yang Kaihui had long heard of Mao Zedong’s name from her father. Her father was full of praise for this beloved student and even showed Yang Kaihui Mao Zedong’s lecture and reading notes.
opened Mao Zedong's more than 10,000 words of notes, which were neatly transcribed and excerpted from ancient Chinese classics, including pre-Qin philosophy, Chu Ci, Han Fu, historical records, Hanshu, ancient Chinese prose of the Tang and Song Dynasties, Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties, and the speeches and works of some thinkers and writers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, which recorded Mao Zedong's own profound insights.
After reading Mao Zedong's notes, Yang Kaihui developed a strong admiration for him. Yang Kaihui, who was smart since childhood, did not covet the vanity of money and power. She admired people with real talents and learning. The appearance of Mao Zedong made her eyes light up.
Mao Zedong also had a good impression of the daughter of his mentor. When he and his classmates from the First Normal University gathered at Yang Changji's house, he cared about Yang Kaihui. He often explained revolutionary principles to her in simple terms, inspired her to think about problems, encouraged her to express her opinions bravely, and often sent his diaries and articles to Yang Kaihui. As time went by, the two young people became closer and closer.
Although the two young people are close, their relationship in Changsha was still at the stage of pure friendship, and they had to wait until they reunited in Beijing to reveal the window of their love.
In 1918, after Mao Zedong graduated from Hunan First Normal University, he was recommended by Yang Changji to serve as the administrator of the Peking University Library. Yang Changji also went to Peking University as a professor of ethics.
Mao Zedong read revolutionary books in Beijing, participated in social practice, and devoted himself to the raging revolutionary cause. It was also in Beijing that he and Yang Kaihui, who often visited Yang's house, developed a mutual affection for each other and eventually fell in love.
Yang Changji had not taught at Peking University for long before he died of illness on January 17, 1920. Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui also returned to Changsha.
Shortly after returning to Changsha, in the winter of 1920, Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui announced their union with a new-style wedding that was completely free from the restrictions of feudal bad customs.
On the day of their wedding, Yang Kaihui took her belongings and moved into Mao Zedong’s teachers’ dormitory at the First Normal University. The two held a banquet that day and entertained several relatives and friends in Changsha. In a simple way, the life-long event of the two was completed.
The reason why such a simple wedding ceremony was held was because the two had the same revolutionary ideals and life pursuits. Mao Zedong later lamented that his marriage to Yang Kaihui was based on a thorough understanding of each other's personalities and thoughts. The two people's thoughts were highly consistent, and there were no twists and turns from falling in love to getting married.
Yang Kaihui had her own views on marriage when she was seventeen or eighteen years old. She opposed all forms and believed that only sincere love can be the highest and most sacred. Her union with Mao Zedong was exactly this highest level of love.
Even before the two got married, Yang Kaihui spared no effort to support Mao Zedong's revolutionary cause. In July 1920, when Mao Zedong founded the Cultural Book Club in Changsha, had insufficient funds, so Yang Kaihui used the funeral expenses for his father's death to support Mao Zedong.
After the two got married, Yang Kaihui became Mao Zedong's virtuous wife. She wholeheartedly helped Mao Zedong organize and copy documents. All correspondence between revolutionary comrades in other places and Mao Zedong was handled by Yang Kaihui. She also joined the Communist Party of China in 1921, becoming China's second female communist.
After the two got married, Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui lived together for nearly seven years, from the winter solstice of 1920 to August 1927.
During this period, China's revolutionary cause had its ups and downs. There was the vitality of the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the vigor of the Northern Expedition, and the gloomy butcher knife of the White Terror. However, no matter what difficulties and dangers he faced, Yang Kaihui always accompanied Mao Zedong without any regrets.
In the past seven years, as Mao Zedong's work changed, the two of them lived in Changsha, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan, calling themselves home all over the world.
In a harsh environment, Yang Kaihui not only took on the heavy housework, but also organized materials and did writing work for Mao Zedong. She took care of Mao Zedong's life in every possible way and assisted Mao Zedong in the labor movement, student movement, and peasant movement. As an early Communist Party member, Yang Kaihui did not hold any position within the party, but her contribution to the party cannot be erased by anyone.
Seven years after their marriage, Yang Kaihui gave birth to three sons, Anying, Anqing, and Anlong, for Mao Zedong. However, before the three sons were adults, the two had to face a separation due to the severe revolutionary situation.
In August 1927, the organization decided to let Mao Zedong go to the rural areas of Hunan and Jiangxi to organize and launch an armed revolution. This trip was extremely dangerous. Mao Zedong was unable to take care of his wife and children, so he could only send Yang Kaihui and three children to Itakura. He embarked on the journey alone. No one expected that the young couple would be separated forever.
Mao Zedong left Itakura and went to Anyuan to engage in new battles, and then led the Autumn Harvest Uprising. However, the counterrevolutionary forces were still very strong at the time. After the failure of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, Mao Zedong's life and death were unknown, and Yang Kaihui also lost news of her husband.
Anxious Yang Kaihui could only wait. It was not until Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops to Jinggangshan that someone sent a message in code. Yang Kaihui learned that her husband not only did not sacrifice, but also opened a new chapter in the revolutionary cause in Jinggangshan.
But amid the white terror, news from Jinggangshan was intermittent. In the end, Yang Kaihui and Mao Zedong lost contact. Yang Kaihui could only guess the news about her husband by relying on the "bandit suppression" news published in the Kuomintang opposition newspaper. Mao Zedong, who was in Jinggangshan, never got news about his wife and children.
In October 1930, Yang Kaihui was arrested by a reactionary warlord. While in prison, the Chinese Communist Party threatened and lured her, saying that she would be free as long as she broke away from Mao Zedong. However, Yang Kaihui resolutely replied: "It is not a pity to die. I only hope that the Runzhi Revolution will succeed soon."
In the end, Yang Kaihui died tragically under the gun of a reactionary warlord. She was only 29 years old.
In Jinggangshan, where all external communications were cut off, Mao Zedong always thought that Yang Kaihui had died long ago. It was not until later that he learned the exact time of Yang Kaihui's arrest and sacrifice. Mao Zedong had always been brooding about Yang Kaihui's death. He wrote in a letter to the Yang family: "Kaihui's death can never be redeemed."
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong wrote an affectionate poem "Die Lian Hua: Reply to Li Shuyi" to mourn his late wife Yang Kaihui, which was also the most painful scar in his heart.
Revolutionary partner He Zizhen, last wife Jiang Qing
When Mao Zedong led the troops to Jinggangshan and opened a new chapter in the Chinese revolution, he met He Zizhen, a revolutionary female warrior.
He Zizhen is a Red Army female general who is good at riding horses and shooting guns. She is known as the flower of Jinggang. She was born in Yongxin County, Jiangxi Province. Under the influence of her brother He Minxue, she embarked on the road of revolution.
On July 18, 1927, He Zizhen participated in organizing and leading the Peasant Self-Defense Forces in the four counties of Yongxin, Anfu, Ninggang, and Lianhua to attack Yongxin County and rescued revolutionary comrades imprisoned in prison. After that, He Zizhen, together with comrades of the Yongxin County Party Committee, followed the team of Yuan Wencai, commander-in-chief of the Ninggang County Peasant Self-Defense Army, to Jinggang Mountains. He Zizhen went to Jinggang Mountains earlier than Mao Zedong.
After Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising troops to Jinggangshan, He Zizhen met Mao Zedong under the introduction of Yuan Wencai, and then worked beside Mao Zedong.
On the common revolutionary road, the two became revolutionary partners who supported each other. The two went through ten years of adversity together, which was also the most dangerous and difficult period of the Chinese revolution.
In the past ten years, He Zizhen experienced the spark of the Agrarian Revolution and walked through the Long March of almost death. She always gritted her teeth and persisted by Mao Zedong. However, on the eve of the dawn of the Chinese revolution, her marriage to Mao Zedong came to an end.
After arriving in Yan'an, He Zizhen suffered from injuries. She had a strong personality and had more and more conflicts with Mao Zedong. In the end, he had to go to the Soviet Union alone for treatment. The two finally broke up peacefully in 1939.
After He Zizhen, Mao Zedong’s last wife was Jiang Qing, as everyone knows.
What this last woman brought to Mao Zedong was endless baggage and burden. Mao Zedong also complained to the people around him that the marriage was not done well and was sloppy. Jiang Qing was eventually nailed to the pillar of shame in history.
Reference materials:
"Six Women Who Influenced Mao Zedong's Life", "Party History Literature Garden", March 2009
"Several Historical Facts about Mao Zedong's First Marriage", "Research on Mao Zedong Thought", May 1996
