Shi Yang (; June 13, 1889 - February 15, 1923), born Shi Jichao (),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Bogao (). Shi Yang was from the small village of Yangjiahe () in

Zhushan County Zhushan County () is a county in Shiyan, northwestern Hubei province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the north and Chongqing municipality to the south. The county spans an area of , and has a population of 346,069 as of 2020. Toponymy E ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. He was a lawyer by trade, as well as a member 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 ...

, and was one of the early leaders of the Chinese

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...

movement.

Life

Shi Yang's family were rural farmers and were very poor. In 1907 he was accepted into the Yunyang Government Agricultural School's Silk Production study program, transferring three years later into the Yunyang Agricultural Middle School. Most schools, including Yang's, had closed during and after the chaos of the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

, and therefore in 1912 Yang decided to return to his home village and establish a school, acting as its headmaster. Shi also founded an agricultural association and was asked to serve as its chair. In 1914, Yang was accepted into the Hubei Police School and in 1915 entered the Hubei School of Jurisprudence () to study law. He graduated as the school's

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

in 1917 and began practicing law at an office in

Wuchang Wuchang is one of 13 urban District (China), districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the right (southea ...

. In 1919, Yang opened his own practice across the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

at #5 Leatherwork Alley, Hualou Street () and soon joined the newly created Wuhan Jurisprudence Society and was selected as Vice Chair. In the 1910s, Shi Yang became an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

for a time, but later considered anarchism as an empty dream and turned to Marxism-Leninism. In June 1922, Yang was introduced to the

by Xu Baihao and

Xiang Ying Xiang Ying (; 1895(?) – 1941) was a war-time Chinese communist leader and an early founding member of the Chinese Communist Party who reached the rank of political chief of staff of the New Fourth Army during World War II until his assassinatio ...

and became a member. Two months later in August, he participated in the founding of the Wuhan Workers Union the earliest regional union in all of China (the group replaced the "Wuhan" in its name with "Hubei Province" in October of that year). Yang served as legal counsel for the union. Yang used his status as a lawyer to support strikers by factory workers and rickshaw drivers, and participated in many different workers' movements in Wuhan, often as a leader. On February 1, 1923, the Beijing-Wuhan Railroad Workers' Association held a large formal conference in

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...

. As Yang was the Association's legal counsel, he played a large part in the conference's activities. The conference met with obstruction from the Zhengzhou Police authorities, and there were several serious clashes between conference attendees and the police. That evening, a secret meeting of the conference was held, demanding that the government meet all of the workers' demands - dismissal of the Zhengzhou Police Chief, reimbursement of workers' lost property, etc. - within two days, otherwise the association would implement a full strike of workers along the entire Jinghan railway. Shi Yang and Lin Xiangqian were chosen as leaders of the strike in the Jiang'an area and they returned to Wuhan by train after the meeting. The following days saw more workers' meetings to organize actions. On February 4, the Beijing-Wuhan Association issued the order to go on strike, and Yang instructed all Wuhan-area members to comply. On the afternoon of February 7, Xiao Yaonan, the military general who controlled most of Hubei Province, began using military force to put down the strike. That evening, Shi Yang was arrested at his home and taken to the Hankou police station. The following morning, he was transferred to a military facility in Wuchang and in the afternoon was put on trial by a

military tribunal Military justice (or military law) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states us ...

. Yang represented himself ''

pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, or a defendant in criminal cases, rather than have representation from counsel or an attorney. The ...

'' and vehemently criticized the reactionary nature of the

Beiyang Army The Beiyang Army (), named after the Beiyang region, was a Western-style Imperial Chinese Army established by the Qing dynasty in the early 20th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of the Qing military system in the wake ...

. Warlord

Wu Peifu Wu Peifu (also spelled Wu P'ei-fu) (; April 22, 1874 – December 4, 1939) was a Chinese warlord and major figure in the Warlord Era in China from 1916 to 1927. Early career Born in Shandong Province in eastern China, Wu initially rece ...

took command of the situation and without waiting for the military trial to conclude, issued a secret order for Yang's execution, which took place in the early morning of February 15, 1923. A large tomb was built for Yang in Wuchang in 1963 and he was re-interred there. Wuying Pagoda was relocated to the west of his tomb at that time. It is located on Wuluo Street, about two miles up from the

Yellow Crane Tower Yellow Crane Tower () is a traditional Chinese tower located in Wuhan. The current structure was built from 1981 to 1985, but the tower has existed in various forms from as early as AD 223. The current Yellow Crane Tower is high and covers a ...

and the Yangtze River. In 1993, a five-meter bronze statue of Yang was erected in his home village.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shi, Yang 1889 births 1923 deaths Burials in Wuhan 20th-century Chinese lawyers Chinese communists Executed people from Hubei