Yang Kaihui's letter found inside wall after half a century
2022-06-24
In the letter, Yang Kaihui expressed her concern about Mao Zedong’s illness caused by overwork and the sadness of not being with him on his birthday because she had to take care of the kids.
It was just at the time when the Great Revolution (1924-1927) ended in failure. While Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi, Yang Kaihui returned to Changsha with three children to carry out secret tasks. As the war was urgent and communication was totally blocked, Yang Kaihui had no choice but to express how sorely she missed her husband in the letters.
Unfortunately, Mao Zedong had died for nearly six years when the first batch of letters were found in March 1982. Yang Kaihui’s thoughts failed to convey to Mao Zedong.
Born in 1901, Yang Kaihui was the daughter of the famous scholar Yang Changji. In the winter of 1920, she married Mao Zedong and joined the Socialist Youth League of China. She then joined the Communist Party of China in 1921 as an assistant to Mao Zedong.
After the failure of the Great Revolution, Mao Zedong led the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the struggle in Jinggangshang Revolutionary Base, and Yang Kaihui stayed committed to the revolution alone while taking care of three kids.
On October 24, 1930, Yang Kaihui was caught by the spies of warlord when she slipped back to Bancang Town to visit her mother and children. In the small hours of that night, more than 80 people surrounded Yang Kaihui’s home and captured her, her eight-year-old son Mao Anying and the nanny.
“As long as Yang Kaihui announces in the newspaper that she agrees to divorce Mao Zedong, she can be released on bail.” In the face of warlords’ threats and enticement, Yang Kaihui answered firmly:“ I’m not afraid of death but wish the revolution a full success as soon as possible!”
On November 14, 1930, Yang Kaihui died at the age of 29 in Shiziling near Liuyang Gate.
Soon after, Mao Zedong, who was still commanding the Red Army in Jiangxi to fight against the Kuomintang (KMT) encirclement and suppression campaigns, was deeply saddened by the news of his wife’s death. He expressed great sorrow for her in the letter to the Yang’s family.
Twenty-seven years later, in 1957, Mao Zedong wrote a poem to Li Shuyi, the wife of his imitate friend Liu Zhixun, to describe his deep feelings for his wife Yang Kaihui and his close friend Liu Zhixun. Furthermore, through this poem Mao sent condolences and showed respect for the revolutionary martyrs.
