Cai Chang, Cai Hesen's sister, Chinese feminist leader, and the oldest female Red Army member in the Long March. Cai Chang, formerly known as Cai Xianxi, was born in Heye Guangjiatang, Xiangxiang, Hunan Province (now Shuangfeng County), graduated from Moscow University, a proletarian revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the Chinese women's movement.
A mother who dares to challenge feudal traditions
Cai Chang's mother Ge Jianhao is a descendant of the generals of the Hunan army in the Qing Dynasty, and has an in-law relationship with the famous general Zeng Guofan.
In 1907, after Qiu Jin became righteous in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, she had a great influence on Ge Jianhao's thoughts, and she admired Qiu Jin very much as a "woman with both wisdom, benevolence and bravery", so she often encouraged herself and educated her children to be Qiu Jin's kind of person who is beneficial to society.
The young Cai Chang recited Qiu Jin's poems: "The body is not strong, the man is fierce, but the heart is more than the man, the man is ...... strong", "The woman in the clouds is not a hero, and she rides the wind alone to the east...... "Hazy yearning to be a Qiu Jin-style heroine".
It can be said that Cai Chang's brother and sister became communists, and the role and influence of their mother are undoubtedly huge.
In 1913, due to the influence of revolutionary ideas, his mother Ge Jianhao sold his clothes, gold and silver jewelry and other makeup, and took his son Cai Hesen and daughter Cai Chang to study in school.
In 1914, Cai's mother founded the county No. 2 Girls' School in Xiangxiang County, encouraging girls to enroll in school and promoting the further development of local education. Under the influence of his mother, Cai Chang's revolutionary ideas gradually sprouted. In 1919, he and his brother Cai Hesen went to France to work and study and participated in the Xinmin Society.
He joined the Communist Party of China in 1923. He has served as the 1st to 3rd Chairman and 4th Honorary Chairman of the All-China Women's Federation, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 4th and 5th National People's Congress, and member of the 7th to 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
He died of illness in Beijing on September 11, 1990.
The oldest female Red Army member of the Long March
Cai Chang was the oldest female Red Army member of the Long March, and people in the party affectionately called her "Sister Cai". She treats the younger generation as if she were her own children, and people affectionately call her "Mama Cai".
In his book The Long March: The Unheard Story, the American writer Harrison Salisbury wrote: "If there is any saint in the Long March, it is her." She is - Cai Chang. "
A pioneer of the women's movement
In 1925, Cai Chang served as the secretary of the Women's Committee of the Liangguang District Committee of the Communist Party of China. In order to guide women on the road to complete liberation, the Women's Committee of the CPC Liangguang District Committee, which Cai Chang began to lead, put forward the principle that the women's liberation movement should be integrated with the national revolutionary movement and the liberation movement of the working class, and led women to actively participate in and support the general strike in Guangdong and Hong Kong and the Northern Expedition, thus promoting the development of the women's liberation movement in the Liangguang region and the whole country.
In 1931, Cai Chang entered the Jiangxi Central Soviet District and served as the Minister of Women and the Minister of Organization of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, and served as a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Soviet Government.
At that time, men in the Soviet area had to go to the front to fight, and the agricultural production labor in the rear was tight. Cai Chang broke away from the superstition that "women plough the fields and hens learn to cry, and if they offend the gods, they will be struck by lightning" that circulated in the rural areas of Jiangxi at that time, and personally took the lead in learning the techniques of harrowing and plowing from the peasants, and mobilized all counties in the Soviet region to organize women's ploughing teams to guide the vast number of women in the Soviet area to devote themselves to agricultural production and become the main force of production, so that agricultural production could reap a bumper harvest.
Later, "Cai Chang led the women to scare away Lei Gong." The women of the Soviet area are heroes who are not afraid of thunderstorms" is a good story in the base areas of the Soviet area.
The famous American progressive writer Nim Wells (Mrs. Snow) commented on the early revolutionary Cai Chang in her book "Continuing the West": Since the sacrifice of Xiang Xiang, she has been "the most advanced female Communist Party member in China" and "the most active female revolutionary". "There is no country in the world that can produce a better female revolutionary and a more beautiful personality than her."
Cai Chang was the first prominent activist of the Chinese Communist Party to devote herself to the international progressive women's movement.
In February 1947 and November 1948, she represented the Women's Federation of the Liberated Areas of China twice to attend the Council Meeting of the International Democratic Women's Federation.
With his outstanding talent, elegant demeanor and modest character, Cai Chang won the support of the representatives of the International Democratic Women's Federation, and was elected as the director, executive committee member and vice chairman of the International Women's Federation.
Cai Chang, a revolutionary woman who has struggled against the feudal system since she was a child. She walked 25,000 miles on foot, and was the oldest female Red Army on the way. She founded the first school for women cadres and trained a large number of female talents.
She was the first famous activist to go abroad to the world and open up international exchanges between Chinese women, and she used her revolutionary career of more than 70 years to write the process of Chinese women's liberation.
Cai Chang: A descendant of Zeng Guofan, my brother is a great figure, a real revolutionary sister.
Among the proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation, there was a great woman whose life was full of legends.
Her maternal grandfather was related to Zeng Guofan by marriage, so she can also be said to be a descendant of Zeng Guofan.
Her third brother, Cai Hesen, one of the early founders of our party, was praised by Chairman Mao as "a qualified Communist Party member." ”
His partner called her "eldest sister" because he was a few months younger than her, Premier Zhou Enlai was older than her, and he also affectionately called her "eldest sister", and the older generation of CCP leaders called her "eldest sister".
The American writer Snow and his wife wrote two books for China's early revolutionary movement, "A Journey to the West" and "A Journey to the West", in which Mrs. Snow described Cai Chang as follows: "There is no country in the world that can produce a better female revolutionary and a more beautiful personality than her."
The Chinese Revolution made her, and she also dedicated everything to the Chinese Revolution and even the women's liberation movement in the world.
flee
In 1900, a new era was about to begin, and everything was in the bud. Darkness remains, but light is coming.
Cai Chang was born at this time, this darkest moment.
But even in this darkest time, there was still light that gave Cai Chang the initial guidance, and this light came from her mother and his third brother.
Cai Chang's mother, Ge Jianhao, is another legendary woman. She and Qiu Jin, the heroine of Jianhu, are fellow countrymen, deeply influenced by Qiu Jin's revolutionary thoughts, and have long understood the importance of reading, so her children, regardless of boys and girls, she supports them to study, and also runs her own school, serves as the principal, becomes a teacher, and teaches students.
Cai Chang, under the words and deeds of his mother, has been reading and reading since he was a child. It's just that in the era she lived in, women had a low status and were discriminated against, especially in China at that time, there was a bad habit that destroyed women's bodies - foot binding.
Cai Chang has witnessed the pain and inconvenience caused by foot binding to her mother since she was a child, and when she reached the age of foot binding, when the elders wanted to bind her feet, she began to resist for the first time, and she resolutely did not bind her feet.
This is the first time she has resisted, against the injustice of women's fate, and it is also an escape, escaping from the cruelty of fate to women.
Of course, this is indispensable to the support of her mother, the young Cai Chang began the first step to change the trajectory of her destiny under the care of her mother, she had her first job, as a teacher in her mother's school.
Their behavior was not accepted by the mainstream society at that time, and her father thought that they were disobedient to women's morals and lost his face, so he wanted to exercise his power as a husband and father, and he took it upon himself to sell Cai Chang to a local landlord for 500 oceans as a child daughter-in-law.
At that time, I don't know how many women's lives were cut off in this "500 oceans".
Fortunately, Cai Chang's mother is Ge Jianhao. She was quiet on the surface, but secretly sold her dowry, raised a sum of money, and arranged for Cai Chang to escape and go to Changsha to join his third brother.
This escape allowed her to break free from the chains imposed on her by feudal society, and she was free to choose her own life trajectory and pursue her life goals.
pursue
Changsha, at that time, aspiring young people in Hunan gathered here, including Cai Chang's third brother - Cai Hesen, his name is like thunder, his life is very short, but shining like fireworks, he illuminated the sky of the history of the Communist Party of China, shining to this day, of course, he also illuminated Cai Chang's revolutionary road.
Cai Chang came to Changsha and was admitted to Zhounan Middle School at that time, where she met Xiang Jingyu, who later became her sister-in-law, and a large number of like-minded classmates.
Young people are together, they talk about current events, express their ideals and ambitions.
It was at this time that she met Mao Zedong, the future leader of the Communist Party of China, and became an alumnus with Chairman Mao.
Life here gave her a feeling: that is, she felt like a fish that had lived in a fish tank for a long time, and suddenly returned to the big river, and finally could swim freely in it, so she gave herself a new name: Cai Chang.
At that time, she was with those people with advanced ideology, attracted by their ideas, infected by them, she began to worry about the reality of China, she participated in the movement against Yuan Shikai at that time, she went to the streets with her classmates, gave propaganda speeches, saw the people's enthusiasm, she realized that through speech propaganda, she could awaken the people.
His third brother and Chairman Mao co-founded the Xinmin Society, which caused a huge repercussion in China, and Cai Chang was deeply inspired by them, and she decided to follow in their footsteps and follow the same path as them.
In 1920, the Sino-French Education Association organized Chinese aspiring young people to go to France for work-study, and Cai Chang, who had already begun to have a revolutionary consciousness, immediately made an appointment with Xiang Jingyu to go to France for work-study together.
At this time, Cai Chang's mother also fled the feudal family, she decided to go to France to study with her children, she sold her clothes and jewelry, but there was still not enough money, so she borrowed some money from Zeng Guofan's son-in-law.
In this way, in January 1920, Cai Chang, her mother Ge Jianhao, and her brother Cai Hesen formed a work-study family and came to Marseille, France.
Here, Cai Chang got acquainted with more early CCP leaders, such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, and also found her revolutionary partner Li Fuchun. It was here, under the introduction of Zhou Enlai, that she joined the Communist Party of China.
In the ensuing revolutionary struggle, Cai Chang made outstanding contributions to our party with her knowledge, firm revolutionary beliefs, and fearless spirit of sacrifice, won the respect of all people, and became the real "eldest sister" of the Communist Party of China. She is also the oldest female Red Army to complete the Long March.
Long
The Red Army's Long March was a feat that shocked the whole world.
In the Long March team at that time, there was a team of thirty people, composed entirely of female comrades, known as the "Thirty Heroines" of the Red Army, the oldest of which was Cai Chang.
According to Cai Chang's rank and her physical condition, the Party Central Committee equipped her with a horse. Cai Chang accepted, but during the entire Long March, she never rode the horse once, she gave it to the wounded and sick to ride, she said: "The wounded and sick need it more than me." ”
On the Long March, the soldiers not only have to avoid the enemy's encirclement and interception, but also to complete the transfer of the marching task, whenever the soldiers are tired, Cai Chang will sing "Marseillaise" for everyone, as soon as the soldiers hear this song, they will forget the fatigue and be full of fighting spirit. Later, most of the soldiers could sing it, so this procession on the snow-capped mountains and meadows often reminded them of the song of the "La Marseillaise".
At night, Cai Chang beckoned everyone to sit in a circle back to back, so that everyone could keep each other warm and not fall down when they fell asleep.
At this time, Cai Chang would tell everyone what she saw and heard when she was studying in France, as well as her experience of investigation and study tours around the world, which made the young Red Army soldiers full of curiosity, and also opened their eyes and increased their knowledge. So Cai Chang is willing to talk and share her thoughts, her experience, and her perception of life with the soldiers.
She used her own experience to encourage female fighters to pursue freedom and equality and realize their own cognitive values.
She hoped that what she said would become spiritual food for the fighters, arm their minds, and make them mature and become a vital force in the revolutionary struggle in the future.
It was on the Long March that she also taught a student.
In the ranks of the "Thirty Heroines", there is a female soldier named Wei Xiuying, who participated in the Long March as a hygienist. Chairman Mao once said that she was the hygienist who saved the most people.
She is a child daughter-in-law who was rescued by the Red Army, and she can't read a single big character, in her own words: "The big characters are black and black, they all look the same, I can't tell the difference, I can't recognize it, and I can't say it." ”
Although this sentence was a joke, Cai Chang couldn't laugh when he heard it. She decided to teach Wei Xiuying to read.
Under the difficult conditions of the Red Army's Long March, there was no paper and pen, so they used branches to write on the ground, and later, Cai Chang saved his living expenses and bought paper and pens for Wei Xiuying when he passed by a small town. Wei Xiuying studied more seriously.
After a while, the superior asked to write a work summary, Cai Chang encouraged Wei Xiuying to write it herself, but what she didn't expect was that she really wrote a work summary, although it was very simple, but the content was comprehensive and clear.
This story of a minister accepting students is also a good story on the Red Army's Long March.
The Red Army's Long March was victoriously over, but Cai Chang's revolutionary journey was not over.
saint
Someone once called Cai Chang a "saint" of the revolution.
It is not an exaggeration to say that from the moment Cai Chang became a revolutionary, he was determined to dedicate himself to the cause of Chinese communism.
During her work-study program in France, she met the love of her life, Li Fuchun, and their common revolutionary ideals made them a couple, and soon they had the crystallization of love.
At that time, Cai Chang and Li Fuchun were both in important positions in the party and were busy with work, so in order not to affect their work, Cai Chang once considered not wanting this child. Under the strong opposition of her mother Ge Jianhao, Cai Chang gave birth to this child.
Listening to the child's crying, Cai Chang thought that he didn't have the time and energy to raise the child himself, and felt ashamed of the child.
So, while she was still on the operating table, she immediately asked the doctor to perform birth control surgery for her.
Is it that she doesn't love children?
Of course not, she loves their children very much, in her eyes, her children are the most special children, and they named this only child Littel, which shows that the child has a special meaning and a special place in their hearts.
It's just that they chose to devote more time and energy to revolutionary work. Their child was raised by his grandmother, Ge Jianhao.
Cai Chang has been committed to the Chinese women's liberation movement since she participated in the revolutionary work, she is the pioneer of the women's liberation movement in the mainland, she combined the Marxist concept of women with the practice of the Chinese women's movement, and created a unique policy of the Chinese women's liberation movement, that is, "production, economic independence, political status improvement, complete liberation".
She used this principle to guide the women's liberation movement in various revolutionary periods, encouraging women corrupt officials to participate in productive labor to emancipate themselves.
When she was working in the Jiangxi revolutionary base area, the local young and middle-aged people all joined the Red Army to fight, because the locals were superstitious about the saying that women would be struck by lightning when they farmed the land, and there was no one to plant the land at home.
Cai Chang was the first to work in the field and encouraged local women to farm and produce together, and as a result, they were not only not struck by lightning, but also harvested food and sent it to the front line.
Cai Chang leads by example and practices in any work, and has cultivated batches of female cadres through words and deeds, and Chairman Mao once praised her for "peach and plum all over the world".
Premier Zhou also spoke highly of her for "daring to communicate with the world and being good at communicating with the world".
In February 1947, Cai Chang, as a representative of women in China's liberated areas, participated in the first International Women's Federation Council, at which she gave a speech entitled "Chinese Women Striving for Independence, Democracy and Peace", which let the world know Chinese women during the Chinese revolution.
In November 1848, at the Second World Congress of Women, she was elected Vice-President of the International Democratic Women's Federation. Her work has expanded from domestic to international, and her vision has expanded from her focus on Chinese women to women's liberation movements around the world.
Cai Chang began to embark on the revolutionary road from emancipating himself, and then developed from the liberation movement of Chinese women to participate in the liberation movement all over the world. It has contributed everything it has to the Chinese revolution and to the cause of the liberation of women all over the world.
Jiangxi peasant woman has been incognito for 50 years, and learned that Cai Chang was seriously ill and came to Beijing with her son: I am Mrs. Chen Yi.
In 1988, a letter from Beijing shattered the peaceful life of a 70-year-old woman, saying that a man named Cai Chang was critically ill and that she wanted to see her one last time. The old woman who received this letter had trouble sleeping and eating incognito for more than 50 years, thinking that she would never contact the old friend in this life, but she did not expect to hear the news of her old friend again that she was critically ill, which made the old woman extremely anxious.
The old woman, whose original name was Lai Yueming, thought about it for a long time after receiving the letter, and finally decided to go to Beijing to see her old friend accompanied by her son. At that time, after coming to Beijing, the mother and son found the staff of the All-China Women's Federation to express their intentions, Cai Chang was already terminally ill at that time, and did not want to see the guests again, but when he heard that the person who came was Chen Yi's wife Lai Yueming, Cai Chang was particularly excited, the two had been separated for 54 years, and the two had already gray hair.
Mrs. Chen Yi
Marshal Chen Yi's first wife was Xiao Juying, and the relationship between this pair of revolutionary couples was stronger than that of Jin, and they were very tacit partners in both work and life. In 1931, the encirclement and suppression war launched by the Kuomintang put many Communist Party members in danger, Chen Yi arranged for his wife Xiao Juying to be responsible for the evacuation and retreat of the masses, and to protect some important organizational documents.
In the process of evacuating the masses, Xiao Juying had to deal with various confidential documents because of the enemy's bombers constantly attacking, so the scene was very chaotic at that time. Chen Yi was very sad to learn such news when he returned home, a year later, Chen Yi still did not get out of the grief of losing his wife, he was still a living person before he left, and it was too cruel for Chen Yi to see it again.
Chen Yi later put all his energy into work, and his physical condition became worse and worse due to overwork, and the whole person's state was obviously very negative, so Cai Chang was particularly worried. Cai Chang thought about whether she would be able to change this status quo if Chen Yi had a family, so she noticed Lai Yueming, but Cai Chang's idea of being a matchmaker for Lai Yueming and Chen Yi quickly died, and neither of them agreed.
Chen Yi is 12 years old when Lai Yueming is 12 years old, Chen Yi thinks that he is already a handful of years, and at this time he feels disrespectful to be with Lai Yueming again, and he is very busy with his work, so he will definitely delay Lai Yueming, so Chen Yi resolutely disagrees, Lai Yueming also disagrees with Cai Chang's marriage, Chen Yi enjoyed great prestige in the army at that time, Lai Yueming felt that his education level was not high, and he was not worthy of Chen Yi, so there was no spark between the two.
However, Cai Chang is still very optimistic about the two, she often tutors Lai Yueming to learn some cultural knowledge, and later under the persuasion of the people around them, Chen Yi and Lai Yueming have further gotten along, and in the process of gradually getting along, the two have mutual appreciation, and later become husband and wife. During the war years, as a pair of revolutionary partners, it was the norm to gather less and leave more, but both of them were conscientious and conscientious in their posts, and no matter how far away they were, they would miss each other.
The newlywed two were forced to separate, and it was two years after they saw each other again, and when Lai Yueming saw Chen Yi again, Chen Yi was injured at that time, which also made Lai Yueming particularly distressed. When they met again, Lai Yueming had studied at the Central Party School for about half a year, and graduated successfully with the first grade of female students.
During the Long March of the main force of the Red Army, Lai Yueming stayed to take care of Chen Yi, which was also one of the few days when the two got along, life in the revolutionary years was always extremely difficult, Cai Chang wanted to see Lai Yueming before the Long March with the main force, but he didn't see him because of the tense situation. Lai Yueming and Chen Yi were forced to separate again a few days after the reunion, but this time was also the last time the two of them met.
Miss each other
After a period of separation, Lai Yueming asked around for news of Chen Yi, but there was no movement, and then she returned to her hometown, when the status of a Communist Party member made Lai Yueming's situation particularly difficult, his father in order to protect his daughter's safety, he secretly took her home and announced that Lai Yueming had committed suicide by throwing herself into a well.
At that time, Chen Yi was looking for Lai Yueming when he heard the news and was immediately grief-stricken, the two of them missed each other under the same sky, but they didn't know each other's news, just like that, Lai Yueming and Chen Yi missed it.
Chen Yi was later introduced to marry Zhang Qian, and Lai Yueming was arranged by his father to find Chen Yi to no avail, and when she heard the news of Chen Yi again, Lai Yueming already had a child, at that time she accidentally saw a photo of Chen Yi in a newspaper, but the two had missed it, and they never contacted each other again.
When the news of Chen Yi's death reached Lai Yueming's ears, Lai Yueming was extremely sad, the two of them had a very difficult time, and later Lai Yueming always regretted that she did not personally send Chen Yi on the last journey, which was also her only regret.
So meet each other
In 1984, a teacher from Jiangxi Agricultural University came to visit, when Lai Yueming chatted with the teacher, talking about his past, the teacher was very excited when he heard it, he said that Cai Chang and Wei Xiuying had been looking for Lai Yueming for 30 years, Cai Chang knew the news of Lai Yueming's death, and still had a glimmer of hope, so she has been asking around about Lai Yueming's news over the years, and heard that Cai Chang has been looking for herself, Lai Yueming is also very excited, she asked her son Fang Bin to write a letter to Cai Chang instead of herself.
When she received Lai Yueming's letter, Cai Chang was particularly excited, when she learned that Lai Yueming's party membership card was lost, so she could not confirm her identity, but she would set aside party dues every month to save. Cai Chang was not in good health at the time, but she still insisted on writing a letter to the General Office of the Central Committee, asking for a solution to the life and treatment of Comrade Lai Yueming, in 1988, Wei Xiuying's letter made Lai Yueming particularly sad, the letter said that the eldest sister Cai Chang was critically ill, let Lai Yueming come to see him.
Lai Yueming made up his mind to see his old friend, the two have been separated for 54 years, and they are finally going to meet, Lai Yueming has been incognito for more than 50 years, and finally went to see Cai Chang and Wei Xiuying and other old friends with his original identity. At that time, Cai Chang's physical condition was already very bad, so the reunion ended after half an hour.
Later, Cai Chang and Lai Yueming left the last photo of their lives as a souvenir, and the two of them in the photo could not hide their sad looks, which also made the people around them look very sad.
During that period, there were too many Communist Party members who gave up their small families for the cause of the country and the people, and in their concept, the country and the people were supreme, so many people dedicated themselves to the country, and Lai Yueming and others were not like this. The beliefs they possess are incomparably simple and simple, and the ups and downs of the experience now seem infinitely emotional and poignant.