Chen Lizhen: The Heart of a Fiery Communist Party Member

Zhuangli Village, Zhuangli Township, Xiaoxian County, Anhui Province, is a small village with beautiful mountains and clear waters. This is the hometown of revolutionary martyr Chen Li Zhen. Eighty-six years ago, Chen Lizhen, who was only 25 years old, died in Yuhuatai, Nanjing.

Chen Lizhen, also known as Chen Lvzhen and Chen Lizhen, was born in 1907 in Xiao County, Anhui Province. He entered a private school at the age of 7 and was admitted to the Jiangsu Provincial Seventh Normal School in Xuzhou. He actively participated in the patriotic student movement and gradually accepted revolutionary ideas. After graduation, he taught in Xiao County. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1928 and served as the youth minister of the Xiao County Committee of the Communist Party of China. In the spring of 1929, he went to Shanghai and studied in South China University and Mainland University. In August of the same year, he took part in the party training class of the CPC Central Committee. During this period, he fell in love with Qin Yafen and became a revolutionary couple. After the study in September, he and Qin Yafen were transferred to Xuzhou to take part in the work of resuming Xu Haibang Special Committee.

In March 1930, the Xu Haibang Special Committee of the Communist Party of China was rebuilt. Chen Lizhen served as the Minister of Propaganda of the Special Committee. In July, he served as the Secretary of the Xu Haibang Workers' Movement Committee of the Communist Party of China and concurrently as the Secretary of the Railway Work Committee. Under the severe white terror, he insisted on carrying out the party's underground struggle. Actively promote the development of the local labor movement and the peasant movement. In April 1931, Chen Lizhen was transferred to the Secretary of the CPC Changhuai Special Committee (Bengbu Special Committee) and the Commissioner of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee. In June of the same year, he was transferred to the secretary of the Shanghai Hudong District Committee of the Communist Party of China, and later worked in the strike committee of the Shanghai Anti-Imperialist General League. After the outbreak of the "January 28" Anti-Japanese War in Shanghai in 1932, Chen Lizhen led the workers and citizens of the East District of Shanghai to actively support the Anti-Japanese War of the 19th Route Army, organized transport teams, aid and protection teams, and the Anti-Japanese Salvation Association to promote the struggle against the Japanese occupation of Shanghai.

In May 1932, Chen Lizhen transferred the work of the Organization Department of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee. In October, the party organization decided to send Chen Lizhen and Qin Yafen to study in the Soviet Union. Late one night before departure, he was betrayed by a traitor, arrested in Xuzhou, and then escorted to the Nanjing Kuomintang Military Police Command Prison. In the enemy's prison, Chen Lizhen suffered all kinds of torture and was beaten black and blue, but he stuck to his faith and was determined not to reveal the party's secrets or betray revolutionary comrades even if he sacrificed himself. The enemy asked him to sign the surrender book in exchange for freedom, but he flatly refused. The helpless enemy called traitors and others as lobbyists in a vain attempt to disintegrate Chen Lizhen's revolutionary will. In the face of these threats and inducements, Chen Lizhen scolded them with righteous words:"A traitor can never understand the heart of a true communist. "I will never be a traitor."". The exasperated enemy threatened him with death, and Chen Lizhen responded to the enemy with a glaze. In November 1932, Chen Li was only 25 years old when he died.

The people will always remember the heroes. In 2006, the government and people of Chen Lizhen's hometown built a monument for him to remember his heroic deeds. This monument stands at the south gate of the Huangzangyu National Forest Park in Xiao County, not far from Zhuangli Village. Now, every day, tourists and villagers come to pay their respects.

Source: Party Building Network