Liu Kunmo

Liu Kunmo (1910–1993) was born in Hunan Province and later moved to Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. She was a senior leader of the People's Republic of China and served as the Director of the Grain Bureau in Harbin and as a member of the Municipal Political Consultative Conference.

Her family background was quite unique. Her father’s family was involved in trade; her mother, Liu Ximei, was a merchant girl who, before turning 12, was arranged by relatives to marry Peng Dehuai, a military officer and revolutionary who was not yet 14 at the time. Peng Dehuai gave her the name “Liu Kunmo,” meaning “a role model among women,” and taught her to read and write. In 1922, Peng Dehuai married her, but during the Pingjiang Uprising in 1928, Peng asked her to return home, promising to reunite with her after the victory of the revolution, a promise that was not fulfilled.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Kunmo learned that Peng Dehuai had become the Vice Commander of the Eighth Route Army and corresponded with him. Following a brief stay at the Yan’an Anti-Japanese Military Academy, she traveled to Xi’an to contact Peng, but the two did not reunite. Later, she remarried in Shanxi Province, engaging in agricultural and industrial work, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, she moved to Beijing.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Liu Kunmo worked in Beijing and Heilongjiang. She served as the Director of the Political Department and Head of the Grain Bureau in Harbin. She had a daughter and a son with her second husband, Ren Chuxuan, who passed away in 1968.

She maintained a friendly relationship with Peng Dehuai even after their divorce. In 1953, when Peng Dehuai’s sister-in-law and niece visited Beijing, Liu Kunmo accompanied them to meet Peng at Zhongnanhai. In 1956, Peng Dehuai once sent a car to pick up Liu Kunmo’s older brother, Liu Yufeng, and gave him some pocket money. He also invited her family to gatherings.

In the 1980s, Liu Kunmo served as a member of the Harbin City Political Consultative Conference. In 1987, accompanied by Peng Dehuai’s nephew Peng Qichao, she returned for the first time to her hometown Wu Shi to visit Peng Dehuai’s former residence and wrote a poem for the memorial hall. She passed away in 1993 at the age of 83.