Cao Xiuqing

Cao Xiuqing, born in 1902 in Caojiagou, Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province, with her ancestral home in the same place. Her father, Cao Wanzi, once ran a small business in Mizhi and later moved to the Mizhi County town, accumulating some wealth. She learned to read as a child and studied poetry, literature, and painting. In August 1923 she married Du Yiming. Du Yiming came from Lujiajiancun in the eastern part of Mizhi County; after graduating from Yulin High School, he entered the First Class of the Huangpu Military Academy and joined the Kuomintang; Cao Xiuqing joined the Communist Party in Yulin. After the failed Great Revolution, the couple lived apart, then reunited, and accompanied Du Yiming in his campaigns from the south to the north, raising six children: the eldest daughter Du Zili, the second Du Ziyi, the third Du Zilian; the eldest son Du Ziren, the second Du Ziyong, and the third Du Ziyan.

During the War of Resistance against Japan, Du Yiming served as commander of the 200th Division. Cao Xiuqing set up a family sewing factory in Xiangtan and served as its director, participating in production. In 1934 she helped rescue a fellow native, Gao Minfu. By the end of 1948, around the Huaihai Campaign, Du Yiming was captured; Cao Xiuqing went to Nanjing to petition, an event reported as “Cao Xiuqing storms the Presidential Palace.” She subsequently settled in Taiwan, with the burden of her children’s education and daily life heavy. In 1959, Du Yiming was granted a special pardon; Cao Xiuqing went to the United States to visit her daughter and son-in-law, and with the help of Yang Zhenning and others reestablished contact with her husband.

After returning to the mainland, in 1963 Cao Xiuqing accompanied Du Yiming on visits to many places for inspection and was received by Premier Zhou Enlai. From 1971 to 1973, Yang Zhenning and Du Zili returned to Beijing to give lectures and visit relatives, and Chairman Mao Zedong met them in 1973. In 1981, Du Yiming died of illness; Cao Xiuqing handled his affairs and continued to reside on the mainland. In 1982 she was reunited with her children who were in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Shortly before her death, she donated books to her hometown Caojia Gou Primary School as a gesture of gratitude to her homeland.