Xiang Zhongfa was one of the early senior leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
26 Facts About Xiang Zhongfa
2.
Xiang Zhongfa dropped out of elementary school to move with his parents to their ancestral home in Hubei.
3.
Xiang Zhongfa received a promotion to Second Mate four months later and became Chief Mate after two years.
4.
In 1921, Xiang Zhongfa became the Vice Chairman of Han Zhiping's labor union and joined the CCP.
5.
Xiang Zhongfa was then among the most prominent worker activists, along with Su Zhaozheng, Wang Hebo and Deng Pei.
6.
Xiang Zhongfa expressed his discontent directly, as compared to the more compromising attitude of then party secretary Chen Duxiu, who didn't attach much importance to worker leaders.
7.
The resolute standpoint of Xiang Zhongfa made a great impression on the Comintern, which issued a telegram on July 14,1927, to denounce the central organs of the CCP, saying there were signs of opportunism in its compromise policy in relation to the KMT, and decreeing that all CCP members should fight against this opportunism.
8.
Xiang Zhongfa attended a celebration ceremony and several major conferences for joint Comintern and Soviet communist activities, and gave talks on Soviet radio.
9.
The Eastern Department of the Comintern was happy to have Xiang Zhongfa help them handle Chinese affairs, such as stopping a Chinese student protest in Moscow Eastern University.
10.
In January 1928 Xiang Zhongfa wrote letters to Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin, denouncing the CCP.
11.
Xiang Zhongfa was elected as member of the Politburo and made General Secretary of the CCP, which was no great surprise.
12.
Once Xiang Zhongfa was elected paramount leader of the CCP, it was inappropriate for him to stay in Moscow any longer.
13.
Xiang Zhongfa officially ran the headquarters of the CCP after September 1928.
14.
Second, Xiang Zhongfa issued the Paper of the Central Committee of the CCP to all CCP members, in which he emphasized that incorrect ideas in the revolution should be corrected, and that the CCP should fight against dangers of bourgeois thoughts and actions.
15.
Third, Xiang Zhongfa proposed a series reforms of CCP organs, such as a merger of the labor union with the worker committee, of the propaganda department with the peasant committee, and the establishment of a military committee in the politburo.
16.
When Xiang Zhongfa sacked Cai, he chose Li to replace Cai, who became one of only four standing members of the politburo, and was named Minister of the Propaganda Department in October 1928.
17.
When in 1929 the Far East Bureau of the Comintern issued an order regarding anti-rightism, in which it blamed the CCP for not being active enough in this area, Xiang Zhongfa protested against this decision.
18.
Xiang Zhongfa chose Li as an appropriate candidate for the Propaganda Department because he was eloquent and energetic.
19.
When Xiang Zhongfa sent Zhou Enlai to Moscow to provide further explanations, Li took over Zhou's former role in the organization too, which gave Li a larger stage to prove his talent.
20.
When Xiang Zhongfa learned of the Comintern's decision on anti-rightism, he claimed that the Chinese revolution was in its peak period.
21.
Xiang Zhongfa stood by Li, both refuting that it was zero hour of Chinese revolution.
22.
Aware of being a puppet, Xiang Zhongfa lost confidence in both the revolution and communism.
23.
Xiang Zhongfa changed his interest to women and living a luxurious life.
24.
Xiang Zhongfa was arrested on June 21,1931, in the jewelry store he used as a front in the French Concession in the city of Shanghai.
25.
Xiang Zhongfa was captured in the company of his mistress, Yang Xiuzhen, a cabaret dancer at local Shanghai nightclubs.
26.
In short order, Xiang Zhongfa revealed all he knew about the CCP and its secret services to his KMT captors but was shot before a counterorder signed by Chiang Kai-shek to pardon him ever reached his jailers.