Pan Lanzhen

Pan Lanzhen fled with her parents to Shanghai in 1912 to escape famine, living in pavilion rooms near Xihua De Road. At 13, she entered a silk factory as a child worker; at 17 she was raped by a ruffian foreman, and afterward she worked at another tobacco company to make ends meet. In 1930, the Kuomintang put a bounty on Chen Duxiu. Chen Duxiu was hiding in a building on Shanghai’s Xihua De Road in a Shikumen courtyard, living in a house facing Pan Lanzhen’s home. The two soon met and gradually developed into a partnership. After they lived together for two years, Pan Lanzhen adopted a daughter, naming her Fengxian, who took the Pan surname.

When Pan Lanzhen sent the child back to Nantong, Chen Duxiu was arrested. Pan Lanzhen then returned to Shanghai and, upon learning of his arrest, was shocked. After Chen Duxiu was escorted to Nanjing, Pan Lanzhen went to Nanjing to look after him, moved to a place beside the prison to live independently, and continued to assist Chen Duxiu. From October 15, 1932, Chen Duxiu carried on with his writings in prison, and Pan Lanzhen helped organize materials, run errands, procure items, and handle communications. Chen Duxiu spent five years in prison, during which several major monographs were published, all of which were organized and supported by Pan Lanzhen.

In early 1938, after Japanese planes bombed Nanjing, Chen Duxiu was released. The two then went to Wuhan and later to Jiangjin County in Sichuan. After Anqing fell, his adopted son Songnian, together with Songnian’s grandmother, wife, and child, also moved south to Sichuan. On May 27, 1942, Chen Duxiu died, leaving this testament to Pan Lanzhen: “Lan Zhen, my wife: may you live independently from now on and support yourself.” In accordance with the will, Pan Lanzhen worked on a farm in Sichuan for four years; after the war ended, she returned to Shanghai, worked in a primary school canteen, and was reunited with her adopted daughter, Pan Fengxian. Pan Lanzhen lived by the will for the rest of her life and died in November 1949 at Shanghai’s Tumor Hospital, at the age of 41.