Li Zhenjun

Li Zhenjun was born on June 5, 1920, in Tuojiang Town, Fenghuang County, Hunan Province. He was of Miao ethnicity. In his early years, he grew up in Shitou City in western Hunan, where during childhood he often played and hide-and-seek with his friends atop the city walls and also looked down upon the Tuo River. His father was a well-respected scholar in the local area, and his mother’s surname was Yu; her full name was Yu Mengxian, from Xiushan County in Sichuan. His mother was kind and hardworking, skilled in the Miao language, and raised ten children.

In his youth, Li Zhenjun attended Fenghuang County’s Model Primary School, graduating in winter 1932 with excellent grades. He then entered Yuanling Christian Middle School but later transferred to Changde Provincial No. 8 Middle School due to dissatisfaction with regulations. However, he was expelled after participating in student movements and subsequently went to Changsha to join the revolutionary cause.

During his time at Changsha High School, Li Zhenjun joined the New Voice Choir led by the Communist Party, and through the Party’s introduction, he officially became a member of the Chinese Communist Party, beginning his political work. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, he arrived in Yan’an and joined the revolution. He studied at the Shaanbei Public School and the Yan’an Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, later remaining there to work. He also served in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military District Anti-Japanese University, acting as an education officer and party affairs officer, participating in numerous military campaigns.

During the Liberation War, Li Zhenjun held roles such as regimental political commissar, brigade commander, and military secretary. He participated in battles in Liaoshen, Jinzhou, Pingjin, southern Jiangxi, Guangxi bandit suppression campaigns, and on Hainan Island, holding multiple political positions and actively participating in military operations.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Li Zhenjun served as director of the Army Political Department Secretariat, deputy director of the Division Political Department, deputy minister of the Army Cadre Department, deputy director of the Corps Cadre Department, and vice political commissar of the Hunan Provincial Military District. Between 1964 and 1979, he worked in Hunan Province, serving as the secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party and as president of Xiangtan University, promoting military, political, and cultural development in Hunan. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted for organizing performances of the song “The Gardener’s Song.”

In 1977, Li Zhenjun became the first president of Xiangtan University, actively promoting the school’s recovery and development. After returning to Beijing, he held important positions such as deputy director of the Military Sciences Academy, deputy political commissar of the Armed Police, and director of the Political Department, contributing to the modernization of the military. In 1982, he became vice political commissar and political commissar of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force.

In his later years, Li Zhenjun served as an advisor to several social organizations, including the China Poverty Alleviation Committee and the China Old Revolutionary Base Area Development Promotion Association, actively participating in charitable and cultural causes. He also had achievements in calligraphy and poetry, with elegant, flowing handwriting and lively, profound poems. He passed away in Beijing on March 9, 2008, at the age of 88. He was awarded the Third-Class Medal of Independence and Freedom and the Second-Class Medal of Liberation, and was a Standing Committee member of the 7th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.