He Jinlian

He Jinian, born in August 1927, is the eldest daughter of He Long, a senior general of the People's Liberation Army of China. Her father, He Long, holds an important position in Chinese revolutionary history, having served as Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army and as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party. Her mother was Xu Yu Gu. The two were married in the spring of 1910, arranged by He Long’s parents.

In December 1927, after the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, Zhou Enlai dispatched personnel to find He Long’s family. By the end of that year, they brought He Long’s family to Shanghai. The following year, He Long was ordered to organize armed forces along the Hunan-Hubei border. Due to his busy affairs, he was unable to care for his daughter, and He Jinian was left in Shanghai. Her life became difficult, and she experienced a period of poverty.

During her time in Shanghai, He Jinian’s family lived in Taichenli, which later became a site of an Chinese Communist Party office. As the Kuomintang secretly cracked down on Communist organizations, that office was destroyed. During this period, He Jinian was arrested and imprisoned. She endured various tortures in prison and ultimately died there. There is no information provided about her other family members, including her younger brother He Pengfei and her sisters He Jiesheng, He Xiaoming, and He Limin, regarding their lives or other details.

In summary, He Jinian’s life began in poverty and turmoil and ended in prison. As part of the early revolutionary activities of the Chinese Communist Party, her life reflects the hardships and struggles experienced by many members of revolutionary families during that era.