Luo Zhi (; also Lo Zu; Benson 1990: 175 1915 – 1949), born Luo Changsheng (罗长生), was a revolutionary activist and leader in

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

just prior to the Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Early life

Luo Zhi was born Luo Changsheng in Yuangang Village, Yanghe Township in what is today Gaoming District of

Foshan Foshan (, ; Chinese: 佛山) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta m ...

City in Guangdong Province in 1915.(Chinese
佛山市高明区历史志-罗志
Last Accessed 2013-01-19 In 1924, he accompanied his uncle to

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

to pursue studies in

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

. After the Mukden Incident, he changed his name to Luo Zhi and joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army to fight against Japanese rule. In the winter of 1932, he retreated to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1933, he re-entered China and went to Dihua (now Urumqi). In 1935, he studied at

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

in the Soviet Union before continuing his studies in the politico-economy department of the Xinjiang Academy, where he was exposed to Marxist-Leninist theories. From 1939 to 1942, he taught at a teacher’s college and middle school in northern Xinjiang and was twice arrested for activism against Chinese Nationalist rule.

Activism in Xinjiang

In 1945, Luo Zhi joined the Xinjiang Communist Alliance (新疆共产主义同盟), which in cooperation with the Three Districts Revolution, established the Democratic Revolutionary Party (民主革命党) in Xinjiang. Luo Zhi was elected to the central committee of the party and secretary of the Dihua chapter. In Dihua, he worked to lay the ground for the Chinese Communist takeover of the region from the Chinese Nationalists. In August 1949, he was one of five representatives invited to attend the inaugural meeting of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference to be held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in September. On August 27, the entire Xinjiang delegation led by Ehmetjan Qasimi perished in an airplane crash in the

. Starr 2004: 86 On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded. Nationalists authorities surrendered to the Chinese Communists and the Three Districts’ authorities also joined the Chinese Communists. Luo Zhi along with the other delegation members, Ehmetjan Qasimi, Abdulkerim Abbas, Ishaq Beg and Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, were hailed by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

as martyrs of the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Luo, Zhi People from Foshan 1949 deaths Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union China–Soviet Union relations Chinese communists Political office-holders in Xinjiang 1915 births Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1949