Junman Gao

Gao Junman: Her life and deeds are as follows. At the end of 1909, while studying at the Beijing Women's Normal School, she went to Anqing and stayed at her elder sister’s home. With a higher education background, she came into contact with her sister’s husband, Chen Duxiu; their relationship gradually progressed from kinship to romance. In 1910 they openly cohabited and announced their plans to marry formally. Both sides’ parents, and Chen Duxiu’s first wife (a Gao by surname), expressed strong opposition, but could not stop them. Subsequently Chen Duxiu took Gao Junman with him to Hangzhou and Shanghai, where they lived.

In December 1916, Peking University President Cai Yuanpei appointed Chen Duxiu as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Gao Junman accompanied him to Beijing. From then on, Chen Duxiu and Gao Junman lived together in Beijing until 1925, for a total of fifteen years. During this period, Chen Duxiu participated in the Xinhai Revolution and the Second Revolution, became one of the leaders of the May Fourth Movement, and developed into the founder and leader of the Communist Party of China. Gao Junman not only supported her partner but also contributed to the cause, assisting in editing and publishing the New Youth magazine, undertaking reception and liaison with revolutionaries, sheltering and assisting in prison escapes, and even being arrested together with Chen Duxiu.

The hardships of life affected her health; she suffered from tuberculosis but there was no effective treatment. From 1922, their relationship began to drift apart. In 1925, Gao Junman moved to Nanjing with her son Chen Henian and daughter Chen Zimei, and Chen Duxiu sent her a monthly living allowance of 30 yuan; thereafter the two never met again. In 1931, she died in Nanjing. Her children were Chen Henian and Chen Zimei.