He Zizhen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He Zizhen (Chinese:贺子珍 ; Pinyin: Hè Zǐzhēn; September 1909 - April 19, 1984) was the third wife of Mao Zedong from May 1930 to 1937.
[edit] Biography
She was born in Yunshan (云山), Jiangxi and joined the Communist Youth League in 1925. She graduated from the Yongxin Girls' School (永新女子学校) and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. He Zizhen was introduced to Mao Zedong at Jinggangshan by Yuan Wencai, a classmate of her elder brother, in the spring of 1928. An expert in guerrilla warfare and a capable fighter, He Zizhen was also an excellent shooter.
In 1937 she travelled to the Soviet Union to treat a wound sustained earlier in battle, later attending the Moscow East University.[citation needed] According to many sources, she witnessed Mao having several affairs (including one with Jiang Qing, a famous commnist leader who created the Gang of Four and supposidly helped in the death of Mao Zedong) and was soon after sent to Moscow where she was hospitalized for "mental illness".[citation needed]
When He Zizhen came back to China in 1947, Mao had already married to Jiang Qing, so He could not return to Beijing. She later became the chair of Zhejiang Province Women's Union. In 1984, He Zizhen died alone in Shanghai.[1]
He Zizhen had three daughters and three sons with Mao Zedong, but except for their daughter, Li Min, all of them died young or were separated from the family. Their eldest daughter, who was left to a local family in Fujian, was found and recoginized by He Zizhen's brother in 1973, but never had the chance to meet Mao or He.[2] Two English researchers who retraced the entire Long March in 2002-2003 located a woman who they believe might be a missing child abandoned by Mao and He to peasants in 1935.[3] Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen hope a member of the Mao family will respond to requests for a DNA test.[4]
In 2007, a memorial hall was open in Yongxin for He Zizhen with her daughter, Li Min, present as a guest.
