Wang Jinmei

Wang Jinmei (1898-1925.8.19), born in Beixing Village, Zhucheng County (now Zhuheng City), originally named Ruijun, styled Zhuozhai, was one of the founders of the CPC and the earliest organizer and leader of the C.P. in Shandong. Born in a poor family, he was clever and eager to learn. At first, he accompanied a landlord`s children in learning and then graduated from the Advanced Primary School in Zhigou Town. After that he did farm work in his home village for two years. In his spare time, he taught himself assiduously. He was keen on progressive books and magazines, paying much attention to significant national affairs. Even as a youngster, he had nurtured democratic ideas and the determination to save the country and the people. In 1918, he was enrolled by the First Normal School of Shandong. Before going there he wielded his writing brush and wrote a poem to express his emotions: ``I ask the heaven who determines all these ups and downs. The world has been a battlefield since the earliest times. The Wei River rushes mud and sand into the sea, and the firm Qiaoyou Hill has witnessed the great changes.``

In 1919, when the tide of the May 4th Movement touched every corner of the country, he was chooen to be the representative of Beiyuan Branch of the First Normal School. He actively gathered students to set up patriotic anti-Japanese organizations, took a lead in joining mass rallies and parades, and making propagandas. In the autumn of 1920, he and Deng Enming et al initiated the progressive academic organization Lixin (fulfilling one`s aspirations for a new country) Society, and later started a semimonthly periodical called Lixin, which studied and spread new ideas and new cultures. In this period, he got acquainted with Li Dazhao and joined the research institute of Marxism supported and organized by Li, he becoming the first member in Shandong. In the latter half of the year, Deng Enming and Wang Xiangqian et al established Shandong Research Institute of Marxism in Jinan. The beginning of 1921 saw the appearance of the Agency of Work Weekly and also the publication of Jinan Work Weekly, which spread the idea of ``promote the workers`` social status and improve their life, a kind of spiritual preparation for the coming revolution. Meanwhile, they strengthened their link with the communists in Beijing and Shanghai, actively deliberating on setting up a Communist organization. Before long, with the help of Li Dazhao, Jinan Communist Group, also called Shandong Communist Group, came into being, with Wang Jinmei as leader. In July the same year, he and Deng Enming went to Shanghai to attend the First Congress of CPC as representatives from Jinan Communist Group. The establishment of the C.P. further strengthened his confidence to realize the perfect ideal of Communism and his determination to sacrifice his life for the ideal. For this reason he changed his name to Wang Jinmei (meaning ``trying to be perfect``), and he also wrote a poem entitled To a Friend to express his thought,``On the battlefield the rich and the poor meet. The perfect way is to liberate. Both mud and sand are rushed into the sea, and at the foot of Qiaoyou Hill we see the changes are great.``

After the congress, he returned to Jinan, where he set up the Shandong Branch of the C.P. As the top leader of the branch, he took an active part in starting movements among workers, students and peasants and in promoting the idea of a united front. In the winter of 1921, he was expelled from the First Normal School of Shandong as he was suspected as a ``dangerous person``, since when he devoted himself to the revolutionary cause. In Jan. 1922, he, Deng Enming, Wang Xiangwu, Wang Fuyuan And Wang Leping, as representatives of the C.P. Kuomintang and industry in Shandong, joined the Chinese delegation to attend the congress held in Moscow for the C.P. and other national revolutionary teams in the Fareast countries. They remained in the Soviet Union after the congress for visits and learning. Upon returning in May, they founded Jinan Independent Group of the C.P. (directly under the leadership of the central bureau), with Jinmei as head. By the end of May, they had started Shandong Labor Weekly, which was the official journal of Shandong Branch of the Secretary Department of China`s Labor Union. At that time, the police headquarters of the warlords` government ordered to levy a tax of ``sanitation license`` on the barbers. Jinmei took this opportunity to arouse the barbers on a big strike, in order to force the reactionary government to accept the three requirements: to remit the tax, to release all the captured workers and to allow of the freedom in organizing the labor union. The victory of the strike greatly encouraged all the workers and gave impetus to the workers` movement in Jinan. And it laid a solid foundation for equipping the workers theoretically and for promoting workers` movements.

In July 1922, he went to Shanghai to attend the Second Congress of the CPC, to which he reported the essence of the First Congress for the C.P. and Other National Revolutionary Teams in the Fareast Countries, and Lenin`s important instructions as well. Afterwards, the Central Party Committee sent Chen Weiren to Shandong to help establish Jinan Regional Branch of the CPC (directly belong to the Central Committee), with Jinmei as head. In august, he was sent to Shanhai Pass, Qinhuang Island and other places to lead the workers` movements and to set up the Party`s organizations. Under his leadership, workers along Jing-Feng Railway`s Shanhai Pass section immediately launched a grand strike, which lasted 9 days, and the strikers won at last, succeeding in maintaining the legal position of the worker`s club and pushing forward strikes all along the railway. He then took part in leading the strike by the general ally of the five mines in Qinhuang Island and Kailuan. In Nov. 1922, he initiated the first Party group in the region of Qianhuang Island. In Jan. 1923, he took a leading position in setting up the Federation of Trade Unions all along Jing-Feng Railway and its branch in Shanhai Pass, with him serving as secretary of the federation. Later because he was on the wanted list by the enemy`s, the Central Committee of the CPC decided to send him back to Shndong in Feb. 1923, to be one of the leaders of the Party there. The January of 1922 witnessed the foundation of the CPC`s Jinan Regional Executive Council with Wang as chairman and dean of the propaganda department. Together with Wang Leping et al, he organized the ``society of the populace`` to widely spread Marxism, to introduce the experience of the Soviet Union`s October Revolution, and to perform revolutionary activities. Soon afterwards, he joined Kuomintang according to the decision made on the CPC`s Third Congress, and attended Kuomintang`s First National Congress held in Guangzhou. In December, he went to Beijing as the leader of the CPC`s Shandong Regional Executive Council to attend the speech gathering organized by Li Dazhao about national movements. On his way back, he was interviewed by Sun Yat-sen in Tianjin Hotel, and was appointed a propagandist and special commissioner of the National Conference. During this period, he correctly carried out the Party`s principles, took an active part in setting up and developing the united front held jointly by the CPC and Kuomintang. Meanwhile, he took advantage of the cooperation between the two parties to enlarge the CPC`s influence and develop the Party`s organizations. All this resulted in the rapid development of the Party`s work in Shandong.

The long-term selfless work and hard life resulted in his suffering from tuberculosis. On the eve of the spring festival in 1925, after three days` fierce debate with the reactionary Christians in Jinan, he spit blood and fainted out of fatigue, and was sent to hospital. Just at the time when the facilitating union of the National Conference and the workers` movements were rampantly developing, he was so anxious that he left the hospital decidedly and went to Qingdao to join in the struggle, still in bad health. With his hard efforts, Qingdao Facilitating Union of the National Conference was immediately set up. Then he and Deng Enming led the great strike joined by workers along Jiaoji Railway and those in Sifang Engine Works, and they won a victory, soon after which Federation of Trade Unions along Jiaoji Railway was established. On Mar. 1, he went to Beijing with Wang Zhe to attend the National Congress of the Facilitating Unions and attended Mr. Sun Yat-sen`s funeral. In April, he and Deng went to Qingdao to lead the first joint strike of the workers in the cotton mills of Qingdao, which forced the capitalists to sign nine prerequisites for the workers to resume their work. In June the same year, tuberculosis befell him again, and he was sent back to his home village to regain his health. Later, because his illness became worse, he went to Qingdao Hospital for treatment. When he was critically ill, he asked the one in charge of the Party`s organization in Qingdao to dictate his last words: ``I hope all the comrades will work devotedly and fight to the end for the complete realization of communism as well as for the liberation of all human beings.``

After his death, the Party`s organization in Qingdao, together with his comrades-in-arms there, held a memorial ceremony for him, at which his dying words were read by the one in charge of the Party`s organization. After that, his bier was carried back to his home village and was buried in the graveyard, which was located to the southeast of the village and was covered with date trees. In 1959, Wang Jinmei`s remains were moved, by Shandong Committee of the CPC and Shandong People`s Government, to the Martyrs` Cemetery on Heroes Hill (formerly called Sili Hill) in Jinan. In 1971, Zhucheng Committee of the CPC built Martyr Wang Jinmei`s Memorial Hall on Qiaoyou Hill in front of Beixing Village, and his former residence has been carefully preserved as one of the most important cultural relics of the province.

After the foundation of the People`s Republic, while Mao Zedong was inspecting Qingdao, he specially talked about Wang Jinmei with those in charge of the Party`s affairs in Shandong, saying, ``Shandong is glorious to have a Wang Jinmei, who was a good comrade.``

On Aug. 21, 1961, on the train to Wuhan, Mr. Dong Biwu recalled Wang Jinmei with deep feeling and spontaneously wrote a poem entitled Recalling Comrade Wang JInmei: ``Forty years ago, at the congress we first met, and we had a free talk while boating on the South Lake. There have been many a famous people in Jinan, among whom you and Enming will forever last.``