Qu Qiubai (; 29 January 1899 – 18 June 1935) was a Chinese writer, poet, translator, and a political activist. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he was the de facto leader of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. In 1935, he was arrested and executed by the Republic of China Government led by the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

in Changting,

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

Early life

Qu was born in

Changzhou Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhen ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. His family lived in Tianxiang Lou () located on Qingguo Lane (). Qu's father, Qu Shiwei (), was born in a family that was once powerful. He was good at painting and fencing and acquired much medical knowledge, but had no interest in politics and business. Qu's mother, Jin Xuan (), the daughter of an elite government official, was skilled in poetry. Qu had five brothers and one sister, he being the eldest. When Qu was young, his family lived in his uncle's house and was supported financially by relatives. Though Qu's father took a job as teacher, he was not able to support his family due to his addiction to opium. In 1915, Qu's mother, overcome by her life's mounting difficulties and debts, committed suicide. In 1916, Qu went to Hankou (today

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

) and entered Wuchang Foreign Language School to learn English with the support of his cousin. In the spring of 1917, Qu went to Beijing to apply for a job, but did not pass the general civil service examination. Not having enough money to pay for a regular university tuition, Qu enrolled in the newly established Russian Language Institute () under the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since it did not require payment of fee. The institute also offered a stipend and promised him a job upon graduation.

Communist Party involvement

Qu worked hard in the language institute, learning both French and Russian and spending his spare time studying

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...

and

classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

. Both were his interests cultivated since childhood, as well as the works of

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

whose discussion of physics and perception was to Qu similar to the teachings of Buddhism. His earliest contacts with revolutionary circles came when he participated in discussions of Marxist analysis hosted by

Li Dazhao Li Dazhao or Li Ta-chao (October 29, 1889 – April 28, 1927) was a Chinese intellectual and revolutionary who participated in the New Culture Movement in the early years of the Republic of China, established in 1912. He co-founded the Chinese Co ...

at Beijing University, who was the campus' head librarian. The future communist leader and CCP chairman

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 ...

was also present at these meetings. Qu later took a job as a journalist for a Beiping newspaper ''Morning News'' () and was sent to Moscow as a correspondent, even though this would jeopardise a career in the civil service which his earlier training had prepared him for. Qu was one of the first Chinese to report from Moscow about life in Russia during and after the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

, where he observed the harshness of living conditions. While in Russia, he also visited

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

's home at

Yasnaya Polyana Yasnaya Polyana ( rus, Я́сная Поля́на, p=ˈjasnəjə pɐˈlʲanə, ) is a writer's house museum, the former home of the writer Leo Tolstoy.#Bartlett, Bartlett, p. 25 It is southwest of Tula, Russia, Tula, Russia, and from Moscow. ...

with Tolstoy's granddaughter Sofya, saw

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

addressing a group of delegates, heard Feodor Chaliapin sing

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

's poems set to music, and witnessed Pyotr Kropotkin's funeral. In January 1923, Qu accepted the invitation from

Chen Duxiu Chen Duxiu ( zh, t=陳獨秀, p=Chén Dúxiù, w=Ch'en Tu-hsiu; 9 October 1879 – 27 May 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary, writer, educator, and political philosopher who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921, serving as its fi ...

, leader of the Chinese Communist Party at that time, to come back from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to join in his cause. After returning, Qu was responsible for the propaganda work of Chinese Communist Party. In 1927 after the fall of

, he became acting Chairman of the CCP Politburo and the ''de facto'' leader of the party. The CCP followed an insurrectionary policy and organised actions such as the Autumn Harvest Uprising or the Guangzhou Uprising of December 11, 1927. All of these were crushed which caused the CCP to lose all links with the urban proletariat and forced the CCP to retreat to rural enclaves.Tony Saich, '' From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party'', Harvard University Press. 2021 In April 1928, Qu went to Moscow once again and worked as a delegate of the Chinese Communist Party for two years. During the Sixth Party Congress of the CCP held there from June 18 to July 11, his tactics were criticized as a "putchist left deviation". In 1930, after being dismissed as Chinese Communist Party representative in Russia, Qu returned to China only to be also dismissed from the central leadership. This was all due to an intense argument over how the revolution should be carried out. Following his dismissal, Qu worked both as a writer and a translator in Shanghai, fought literary battles along with

Mao Dun Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his Literary realism, rea ...

and

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

and forged a profound friendship with leaders of the left-wing cultural movement.

Execution

In 1934, the situation became increasingly dangerous and Qu could not stay in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

any longer, so he went to the Communists' Central Revolutionary Base Area in Ruijin, Jiangxi province. When the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

began the famous

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

, Qu stayed in the south to lead the bush fighting. Qu continued publishing ''Red China'', the official newspaper of the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was a state within China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR incl ...

, until January 1935. Arrested in Changting,

in 1934, Qu was sentenced to death by

a year later. During his arrest, Qu was tortured by the KMT government, who adopted various means to induce him to capitulate, but he was persistent in his beliefs and refused. In 1935, Qu wrote the essay ''Superfluous Words'', in which he described his development as a revolutionary and candidly addressed his vulnerabilities and uncertainties. On 18 June 1935, Qu walked calmly toward the execution place, Zhongshan Park in Changting, singing "

The Internationale "The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since ...

", the " Red Army Song", and shouting "Down with the Kuomintang", "Long live the Chinese Communist Party", "Long live the victory of the Chinese revolution", "Long live communism" and other slogans. After reaching Luohanling, a small hill in Zhongshan Park, Qu chose a place to sit down on the grass, smiled and nodded to the executioner, saying "very good here!". Qu was only 36 when he was shot dead.

Influence and legacy

Ding Ling's 1930 novel ''Wei Hu'' was based on Qu's relationship with Ding's close friend Wang Jianhong. In 1932, Qu was the Communist Party representative at Ding's admission into the Party. Ding's 1942 essay ''Commemorating Xiao Hong in Wind and Rain'', grieves for the premature death of Xiao Hong, Qu's execution, and the political suspicion against her friends Feng Xuefeng and

Hu Feng Hu Feng (, November 2, 1902 – June 8, 1985) was a Chinese Marxist writer, poet and literary theorist. He was a prominent member of the League of Left-Wing Writers. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hu Feng became a member ...

. In Ding's 1980 essay ''Comrade Qu Qiubai as I Knew Him'', Ding praised his commitment to communism and courage in revealing his internal struggles. Ding wrote, " volutionaries are not deities. Imperfections and mistakes are inevitable. However, if they confront themselves, engaging in introspection, aren't they more vulnerable than the hypocrites who mislead the masses?" During the Cultural Revolution, Qu was described as a traitor for controversies over his 1935 essay ''Superfluous Words.'' On 19 October 1980, the Communist Party's Central Committee released ''The Investigation Report on Comrade Qu Qiubai's Arrest and Martyrdom.'' The reported stated that ''Superfluous Words'' was not evidence of any betrayal by Qu. It reinstated his reputation and praised Qu for significant contributions to the Chinese Revolution. A Qu Qiubai museum stands in his native town of

. Tsi-an Hsia () describes Qu in ''The Gate of Darkness: Studies on the Leftist Literary Movement in China'' (published 1968) as "the tenderhearted Communist". Qu and a Russian counterpart, V.S. Kolokolov, were responsible for the early development of the Sin Wenz system of

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

. Qu also translated

into Chinese, with his version recognised as the official one and used as the anthem of the Chinese Communist Party.http://history.cultural-china.com/en/59H7594H12613.html 2011.6.18 Qu was one of the major Chinese intellectuals to emerge from the May 4th Movement, and one of early Communist Party members who established the spirit of the revolutionary movement in China. He is also widely remembered as an emotive poet.

Early life

Communist Party involvement

Execution

Influence and legacy

References

Further reading