Yuexia Zhang

Zhang Yuexia (1911–February 12, 1979), a woman from Pujiang Town, Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. After graduating from Pujiang County Qiwen Girls’ Primary School, influenced by the May Fourth New Thinking, she became the leader of Pujiang County Women’s Association in 1927. Following the April 12, 1927 anti-revolutionary coup, she resolutely joined the Chinese Communist Party, and was placed on the wanted list in August of the same year. The Party organized her to work in Shanghai at the Central Committee organs, performing stenography, mimeographing, and internal transport duties, and she long worked alongside Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu. She was arrested twice; the first time she pretended to be an ignorant village girl to win release, and after the second arrest she refused to disclose the Party’s secrets. In 1937 she was rescued by the Party, first going to Wuhan, then to Yan’an, where she entered the Central Party School. She held posts as deputy director of the Cadres Office of the Shaanbei Public School, head of the Cadre Section of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and head of the Cadre Section of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. Later she served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party and as Minister of Women’s Affairs. In 1949 she participated in the taking over of Beijing, serving as Secretary of the Fourth District Committee of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, she first worked at the Central Financial and Economic Commission, then transferred to the All-China Cooperative Federation, where she held posts including Deputy Director of the Marketing Bureau, Director of the Daily Necessities Bureau, and Director of the Price Bureau. She was a representative to the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sessions, and an executive member of the 3rd All-China Women’s Federation.

Since 1924, workers’ movements flourished across the country. Zhang Yuexia, drawing on her life experiences, supported worker and student movements, participated in campus activities at Pujiang’s higher-education institutions, and was expelled for participating in demonstrations. In October 1927 she gained the opportunity to join the Party; after entering the organization, she used her knowledge of Pujiang to carry out work. In 1928 she went to Shanghai and worked in the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, performing stenography and mimeograph duties. In 1931 she was arrested at night, interrogated, and later released by a peripheral Party organization. In 1934 she was arrested again in the French concession, subjected to torture, but she did not reveal anything. In April 1938 she joined the Guangdong Provincial Committee; in 1939 she established Women’s Rescue Associations in Qiongshan, Wanning, and other counties and trained cadres. In 1940 she was transferred to the Southern Bureau, where the Organization Department head was Bo Gu; she became Bo Gu’s wife, with Dong Biwu serving as the witness at the marriage. In November 1940 she accompanied Bo Gu to Yan’an, living on Qingliang Mountain, and participating in cadre training, the rectification campaign, and land reform. After Bo Gu and his companions died in 1946, Zhang Yuexia raised Bo Gu’s son and the five children born to his former wife.

She died on February 12, 1979. Her hometown held a centenary commemoration symposium in 2011 and produced a television biographical documentary, Pujiang Mei, to honor her deeds.