Yang Youlin (, ''Youlin Yang'', 1899–1935), nickname Shifu (), was a Chinese politician and 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 ...

(CCP), being the Vice Chairman and Acting Chairman of the Hunan Hubei Jiangxi Soviet Provincial Government before he was captured and executed in 1935 by the

Nationalist government The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China from 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT ...

. He was formerly a schoolteacher before joining the CCP in 1925. As a member of the CCP, he was responsible for managing education affairs, teaching the ideals of the communist revolution to his fellow Chinese. Youlin was harassed and was forced to flee 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 1927, returning in 1929 after studying in Moscow. He became Vice Chairman of the Hunan Hubei Jiangxi Soviet Provincial Government and assumed command of the 16th Army in 1930, and led the

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Red Army, formally the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army( zh, labels=no, t=中國工農紅軍) or just the Red Army( zh, labels=no, t=紅軍), was the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1928 to 1937. I ...

offensive on

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

in that year. He fought against the

fifth encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet The Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet), while the Chinese Red Army, Communists described it as the fifth counter-encirclement campaign at the Central Soviet ( zh, c=中央苏区第五次反围剿, p=zhōngyāng Sūqū dì ...

, and was captured by the

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; zh, labels=no, t=國民革命軍) served as the military arm of the Kuomintang, Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT) from 1924 until 1947. From 1928, it functioned as the regular army, de facto ...

and executed in 1935.

Biography

Early life

Yang Youlin was born in Hami in the year 1899. His father, , was a governmental officer working in Xinjiang Province in the

Qing Army The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was established by conquest and maintained by armed force. The founding emperors personally organized and led the armies, and the continued cultural and political legitimacy of the dynasty depended on their abilit ...

. In 1921, Youlin attended the Hunan Self-Study University. He would become a teacher at Changsha Yueyun Middle School ( zh, 岳云中学). In the spring of 1925, he discovered that

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 ...

had returned to Shaoshan from

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 ...

to recover from his illness and initiate a peasant uprising, prompting him to call his companions to Shaoshan to seek Mao Zedong's counsel in person. In September 1925, he became a member of the

(CCP) in Shaoshan, and attended the Shaoshan Revenge Meeting ( zh, 韶山区农民雪耻会), serving as Director of School Affairs.

Military and political career

On March 18, 1926, Youlin was instrumental in the organization of peoples in protesting the warlord society of China. Between 1926 and 1927, he continued his work for the CCP in China up until the May 28th Incident, where he organized his party committee in Wuhan and fled to the

for refuge against the Nationalist government. His family, which could not flee, was brutally persecuted by the Nationalist government, with many members being executed. In the Soviet Union, he attended the

Moscow Sun Yat-sen University Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, officially the Sun Yat-sen Communist University of the Toilers of China, was a Comintern school which operated from 1925 to 1930 in the city of Moscow, Russia, then the Soviet Union. It was a training camp for Chin ...

until the summer of 1929, when he returned to China. Upon his return, he advocated for an armed uprising against the Nationalist government, and in 1930 he participated in 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 ...

attack on

. After the CCP abandoned Changsha in 1931, Yang Youlin continued his work as the Vice Chairman of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Soviet Government's Acting Chairman and Vice Chairman.

Death

In October 1933, the Kuomintang launched the

, trapping most of the Red Army under siege. He and his troops attempted to break out, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and he suffered a serious illness due to

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

, which prevented him from accompanying his troops on the

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 ...

. In 1935, he was arrested by the Nationalist government and executed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Youlin, Yang People of the Chinese Civil War 1899 births 1935 deaths Communists executed by the Republic of China Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan Republic of China politicians from Hunan Executed Republic of China people 20th-century executions by China Executed people from Hunan Chinese expatriates in the Soviet Union People from Changsha People executed by the Republic of China by firing squad 20th-century Chinese people Chinese guerrillas Chinese Marxists Chinese revolutionaries