Luo Helou

Luo Helou was a native of Shaoshan, Hunan, and a local gentry figure in the late Qing dynasty.

His wife, of the Mao clan, was a distant cousin of Mao Zedong. Together they had five sons and five daughters, but tragically seven of the children died young, leaving only three daughters to survive.

The eldest daughter, Luo Yixiu (1889–1910), later became Mao Zedong’s first wife. Luo Helou and Mao Yichang arranged the marriage between Mao Zedong and Luo Yixiu, at which time Luo Yixiu was 18 years old and Mao was only 13.

Although his family was once considered to hold relatively high social status, the absence of surviving sons diminished their standing in the traditional patriarchal society of the time.