Zu-Ping Li

Li Zuping, born in 1917 in Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province (now part of Beilun District, Ningbo City), was the eldest son of Li Shanxiang and had a younger sister named Li Caihe. In early 1938, just after finishing high school, he traveled with a route that went through Hong Kong and Vietnam to Yunnan, where he was admitted to the Chemistry Department of Southwest Associated University in Kunming. During his studies, Li Zuping actively participated in the Social Science Research Association and other progressive groups led by the CCP underground. In Yunnan, anti-Japanese resistance activities were active, and the Kuomintang and the Sanqing Club exerted some control over progressive movements.

After the Wan-nan Incident (the Wanxian Incident), the Yunnan Provincial Committee ordered the evacuation and dispersal of some of the more “red” party members and other key progressives. In March 1941 Li Zuping voluntarily applied to join the Chinese Communist Party. He graduated from Southwest Associated University in September of that year and went to a Chongqing chemical plant as a technician, continuing to seek party organizational lines, but he failed to make contact with a liaison.

To seek organizational contact, he risked going to the Red Rock area. The CCP South Bureau’s base at the Hongyan Eighth Route Army office was provided free of charge by his cousin Li Zuxian. There Li Zuping was received by Zhu Yujin, who instructed him to establish contact later through channels such as Xinhua Daily, and to reconnect once the relationship between Southwest Associated University and the party internals had been clarified. After the victory in 1945, Li Zuping returned to Shanghai and lived at his paternal uncle Li Yongchang’s house on Yuyuan Road, maintaining contact with fellow compatriots in Shanghai during this period.

After the northward withdrawal in October 1945, the Zhejiang East Column operated in Huaibei, northern Jiangsu, and other areas. In spring 1946, Li Zuping’s classmate Wang Ning contacted him, and the two went together to Zhou Gongguan on Masinan Road to visit Comrade Chen Jiakang. Chen Jiakang and Wang Ning agreed to formally connect Li Zuping as a formal member of the CCP, with Zhu Yujin directing the process through a single line.

After the liberation, Li Zuping remained in Shanghai, taking part in the Military Control Commission’s handover of light industry. He served successively as director of Shanghai Yimin Leather Factory and director of Shanghai Yimin Food Factory; he also held positions as dean and vice-dean of the Shanghai Food Industry Design Institute under the Ministry of Light Industry, and as a board member of the China Food Science Association and vice-chairman of the Shanghai Food Association. He retired in September 1982. His work in food industry production, research, and engineering design spanned canning, dairy, fermented foods, starch, frozen foods, and related equipment design, with several designs receiving national and aid-country recognitions and awards.