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Early life and struggle
Immediately after returning from Moscow, Chen Qiaonian threw himself into the heavy and secret organizational work of the Chinese Communist Party. His return brought a new vitality and a more rigorous organizational strategy to the party's organizational activities. As head of the organization department in Beijing, his first task was to consolidate the scattered forces of the party and ensure that they were effective against the increasingly restrictive Kuomintang government.
In the process of integrating the party's internal structure, Chen Qiaonian was strict in every detail. He often held intensive meetings with the heads of party organizations in various places, ensuring the secure transmission of information through encrypted communication. Chen Qiaonian personally designed a sophisticated system of contact and reporting that enabled local party organizations to exchange information and strategies efficiently and with extreme secrecy.
In addition to strengthening the existing party members, Chen Qiaonian also set out to develop new party members, especially among young students and the working class. He organized a series of secret training courses aimed at educating these potential party members about the fundamentals of Marxism and the necessity of revolution. Most of these courses take place in hidden locations, such as abandoned warehouses on the outskirts of Beijing or remote farmhouses.
In order to further expand the influence of the Communist Party, Chen Qiaonian decided to establish a printing house called "Xinguang". Ostensibly an ordinary commercial printing business, the printing shop accepts all kinds of commercial printing orders during the day, from brochures to commercial contracts.
However, when night falls, the role changes completely. Instead of printing ordinary business documents, the machines of the factories began to print all sorts of revolutionary propaganda materials.
The pamphlets included exposing the corruption and tyranny of the Kuomintang government, promoting the Communist Party's reform goals, and calling on the people to join the revolution. Chen personally oversees the content design and printing quality of these materials, ensuring that each brochure reaches the target audience accurately.
Betrayal and sacrifice
The risks of revolutionary activity have always been with Chen Qiaonian and his comrades. One day in 1931, an unexpected raid shattered the quiet night at the "Shin Light" printing house. When Kuomintang agents and police stormed the printing house, Mr. Chen was checking the pamphlets that were about to be distributed with several close colleagues.
They quickly tried to destroy the unfinished propaganda material, but it was too late. The operation was reported by an internal traitor, Tang Ruilin, who had previously betrayed the revolutionary ranks by being tortured to extract a confession. Chen Qiaonian was arrested on the spot and quickly taken to the interrogation room of a secret police station in Beijing.
There, he was interrogated and tortured for several days. In the interrogation room, sharp lights shone directly into his face, and the interrogators kept asking questions, trying to learn more about the party and his comradeship.
Despite the deterioration of his physical condition, Chen Qiaonian always gritted his teeth and stood firm in the face of the threats and temptations of the enemy. He was chained to an icy wall, day and night, and hunger and cold became his norm. The interrogators used a variety of tactics to try to break his will, including prolonged sleep deprivation and brutal physical blows.
Over time, Chen's health deteriorated dramatically. The prolonged torture caused him serious problems in his body, and he was often unconscious. Even in this situation, his presence offered a glimmer of hope to other imprisoned comrades.
They often heard him whispering revolutionary slogans and sticking to his beliefs between coma. In the end, Chen Qiaonian died heroically in 1928.
Family ties and suffering
After the arrest of her husband Chen Qiaonian, Shi Jingyi immediately threw herself into a series of complex and dangerous rescue operations. During that turbulent time, information was hard to come by, and she had to deal with various people trying to find ways to help her husband.
She shuttled from all corners of Beijing, from morning to night, constantly visiting friends and comrades who might be influential, asking them for help or information. During these stressful and busy days, Shi Jingyi had to leave her young son at home to be cared for by neighbors or relatives and friends.
However, due to her lack of adequate attention and care, as well as limited medical care at the time, her son's health deteriorated rapidly. Despite her best efforts to mobilize resources to take her son to the hospital for treatment, his condition worsened and he eventually died of a sudden illness.
The death of her son was a heavy blow to Shi Jingyi. At one point, she was in such a state of extreme grief that she could barely continue her rescue operation. However, in the darkest moments, she found herself pregnant with Chen Qiaonian's second child. This unexpected news gave her new strength and purpose.
Although she had hoped to die with her husband, now that she had a new responsibility, she decided to live strong and leave their offspring for him. During her pregnancy, Shi Jingyi's life was full of hardships and unease. Due to the persecution of the Kuomintang and the close surveillance of the families of revolutionaries, she had to change her place of residence frequently to avoid arrest.
She carefully hides her identity, sometimes even daring to go out in the dead of night to ensure safety. She secretly approached the families of other revolutionaries to get support and necessary help.
The moment of childbirth finally came, and Shi Jingyi was in a hidden place, assisted by an old woman who was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause. In an extremely rudimentary environment, without enough medical equipment and medicines, Shi Jingyi experienced a long period of fatigue and pain. Despite the difficult conditions, she finally succeeded in giving birth to a daughter, who was named Chen Changhong.
Escape and rebirth
Soon after Chen Changhong was born, the name of her mother, Shi Jingyi, was on the KMT's key hunt list. Because of Shi Jingyi's revolutionary background and connections with many high-ranking revolutionary leaders, she became a major problem in the eyes of Kuomintang agents. In order to protect Shi Jingyi and her newborn daughter, the organization decided to take emergency measures.
One dark night, Shi Jingyi was secretly sent to study in the Soviet Union, where she hoped that she would be able to take a break from the limelight and continue her academic studies while making more contributions to the revolutionary cause. Her daughter, Chen Changhong, was sent by the organization to the Shanghai Freemasons, an organization dedicated to helping the oppressed people and revolutionaries.
Housed in a nondescript old building in the heart of the city, the Shanghai Freemasons ostensibly a small welfare institution, but in reality it provided many clandestine services, such as temporary housing, medical assistance, and finding safe hiding places for the families of revolutionaries.
Here, Chen Changhong was carefully cared for by the Freemasons staff, who provided her with basic living security and a warm environment. A few months later, through its network, the Mutual Freemasons found a family for Chen Changhong who was willing to adopt her, the Miao family. The Miao family is a couple from Anhui, and although the living conditions are average, they are full of joy and expectation for Chen Changhong's arrival.
The Miao family's adoptive father was a primary school teacher, and their adoptive mother was at home to take care of the family, and they did their best to provide Chen Changhong with a loving home. During his years in the Miao family, Chen Changhong received good care and basic education. Her adoptive parents taught her to read, tell stories, and teach her to be kind and strong.
However, as time went on, the Miao family's financial situation began to deteriorate. Due to long-term work pressure and poor living habits, his adoptive father suffered from a serious lung disease, which made him unable to continue working, and the family's financial resources were interrupted for a time. Despite the Miao family's efforts to make ends meet, the debt gradually piled up.
In the end, his adoptive father became seriously ill, and all the family's savings were spent, and he could no longer afford Chen Changhong's living expenses. Under these circumstances, the Miao family made a difficult decision to send Chen Changhong to another family surnamed Chen who was willing to accept her. The Chen family is also a couple, and although the conditions are not richer than the Miao family, they agree to accept this helpless little girl.
Roots-seeking and reunion
While studying in the Soviet Union, Shi Jingyi faced new living circumstances and challenges, and she decided to start a family again, hoping to find some stability in a foreign country. Although she remarried and started a new life, she never let go of her daughter in China, Chen Changhong. Although Shi Jingyi's life continues, she has always maintained contact with China, trying to get news about her daughter.
As the years passed, Shi Jingyi returned to China with her new husband, which gave her more opportunities to find her daughter. She contacted old friends and revolutionary comrades to ask for clues about her daughter, and she even visited the Shanghai Mutual Masonic Society, which had helped to settle Chen Changhong, but years of social changes left few clues. Every attempt seemed to end in failure, but she didn't give up hope.
In Shi Jingyi's later years, her health began to deteriorate, but her biggest regret was that she could not find Chen Changhong. On her deathbed, she entrusted her sister and brother-in-law with an important mission: to continue the search for her long-lost daughter.
In order to broaden the scope of the search as much as possible, her brother-in-law decided to use the power of the public media, and he published an article in a national newspaper, "Where is the end of the world where the martyr Qiao Nian has a daughter, Chen Hongtian", hoping to find any possible clues.
After the article was published, it attracted widespread attention. Many people were touched by this sad and touching story and tried to help find Chen Changhong through different channels. The news sparked an enthusiastic response from all walks of life, and many people began to spontaneously search for possible clues, hoping to bring some hope to this tragic family.
In 1990, in the midst of this extensive social search, an old Red Army named Miao Yu came to the fore. Her self-reported life experiences are strikingly similar to Chen's background. Miao Yu also went through the process of being adopted as a child, she was initially raised by the Miao family, and later sent to another family, the Chen family, because of her adoptive father's serious illness, almost the same experience as Chen Changhong.
Miao Yu's childhood was not easy, especially during her time in the Chen family, when she almost died of measles. Medical facilities were limited at the time, and although the Chen family was poor, the whole family did their best to take care of her, using traditional herbal medicine and family traditions to sustain her life.
When Miao Yu was 16 years old, her hometown ushered in an army that was admired by the local people, the New Fourth Army. This unit has earned a high reputation among the people for its disciplined and people-friendly behavior. The New Fourth Army was not only heroic on the battlefield, but also actively participated in helping villagers build bridges and roads, educate village children, and even help in the fields when the farm was busy.
These actions deeply affected Miao Yu, and she was full of respect for the New Fourth Army, so she joined the New Fourth Army. Over time, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Miao Yu was assigned to work in the Public Security Bureau of Fujian Province, and then transferred to the Light Industry Bureau.
In the process of searching for the orphans of martyr Chen Qiaonian, the New Fourth Army Research Society, the Chen Duxiu Research Society, and the relevant administrative departments of Fujian and Anhui provinces worked together to conduct in-depth investigations and verifications.
By carefully comparing records and evidence, as well as listening to the oral histories of the older local generation, these organizations gradually determined Miao Yu's true identity. The investigation process was fraught with challenges, involving a lot of documentary work and fieldwork, but in the end, they confirmed that Miao Yu was Chen Changhong, who had been lost for many years.
In 1994, Chen Changhong was already in his prime, and in this year, her half-brother recognized each other, and with the support of her younger brother, she went to the grave of her father Chen Yannian and uncle Chen Qiaonian.
Standing in front of the tomb, Chen Changhong knelt on her knees, she carefully looked at the photos of her father and uncle, and tears flowed involuntarily. At this moment, she felt a deep connection, and although she had never had the opportunity to truly get to know these two immediate loved ones, she knew that her life and their sacrifice were inextricably linked.
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Resources:
[1] Wu Jimin. Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian[J].Tongzhou Progress,2021(1):41-45