He Xianning ( Chinese 何香凝 , Pinyin : Hé Xiāngníng ; 1878–1972) is a Chinese revolutionary, feminist , politician, artist, and poetess [1] . Together with her husband, Liao Zhongkai (廖仲愷) is a member of the revolutionary organization Sun Yat-sen Tongmenhui . During the reign of Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou, she served as Minister for Women's Affairs and advocated for gender equality. In 1924, she organized the first rally in China on International Women's Day . After the murder of her husband in 1925 and the mass extermination of the Chinese Communists in 1927, she moved away from party politics for 20 years, but took an active part in organizing resistance to the Japanese invasion of China .
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In 1948, she became one of the co-founders of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee . After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, she held several high posts, including Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Political Consultative Council of China (1954-64), Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China People’s Assembly (1959-72), Chairman of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee ( 1960-72), and Honorary Chairman of the All-China Federation of Women .
He Xiangning is also a well-known artist of the Lynn School of Chinese Art and in the 60s served as chairman of the Chinese Artists Association . The National Museum of He Xiangning was opened in Shenzhen in 1997, and her work was published on Chinese postage stamps.
Biography
The early years
He Xiangning was born on June 27, 1878 [2] in a wealthy Hong Kong family and at birth the future revolutionary was named He Jian (何 諫). Her father, He Binhuan (何炳桓), a native of Nanhai , Guangdong Province , was a successful businessman specializing in tea transportation and real estate investment [1] [3] . He Xiangning convinced her father to get an education with her brothers, and from her youth she was a diligent student.
She adhered to feminist views from a youth [4] , and fiercely resisted her father's instructions to traditionally bandage her legs . Due to her “large foot size”, in October 1897 she agreed to marry Liao Zhongkai , an American of Chinese descent who was against marrying a woman with bandaged legs [1] . It was a consensual wedding, since He and Liao had much in common: both showed a love for art and a craving for knowledge, and also longed to improve the situation in the country. He Xianning sold her precious jewelry and gave away all her savings to receive 3 thousand silver coins for her husband's education in Japan. Liao went to Japan in 1902, and after 2 months she went after him. There she studied at the preparatory school for admission to the Tokyo School for Women [1]
Revolution
In 1903, while living in Tokyo, He and Liao met the Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen . They became the first participants in the Tongmenhui revolutionary movement under his leadership, and Huang Xing , the Chinese militarist revolutionary, the second man in the Tongmenhui organization after Sun Yat-sen, taught them to use weapons in preparation for the revolution. He rented the house as Tongmenhui's foremost covert operation [1] .
The girl returned to Hong Kong for a short time to give birth to her daughter Liao Manxing. Leaving her with her family, He returned to Tokyo. There, she studied drawing at the Tokyo School of Women’s Art [3] with an artist named Raiso Tanaka ( Japanese 田中 頼 璋 ) , and helped Tunmonha advocate for the design and sewing of revolutionary flags and emblems. In 1908, the girl gave birth to a son, Liao Chenzhi ( Chinese. 廖承志 ) [1] .
Liao and He returned to Hong Kong in 1911 [1] , the year of the Xinhai Revolution . In 1913, He Xiangning met Sun Qingling , the future wife of Sun Yat-sen. The couple adhered to the position of Sun Yat-sen, hostile to General Yuan Shikai , who had betrayed the revolution, but after a series of setbacks during the second revolution, they were expelled to Japan [1] [3] .
Sun Yat-sen Government
In 1916, He Xiangning and her husband moved to Shanghai to develop a new revolution plan. In 1921, Sun Yat-sen created his own revolutionary government in Guangdong and appointed Liao as Minister of Finance. He persuaded the naval commanders to join the Sun Yat-sen government. In Guangzhou, she and Song Qingling organized an association of women to raise funds [1] to provide soldiers with medicines and clothing. Moreover, the girl sold many of her paintings for military purposes. When General Chen Junming opposed Sun Yat-sen in 1922, He Xiangning reunited the revolutionary with his wife and took the risk of freeing her husband, who was being held by the rebels [1] .
In August 1923, He became a member of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, and took the post of Minister of Women's Affairs under the Government of Sun Yat-sen [3] . She put forward the idea of "full equality for women in legal, social, economic and educational rights", and also organized the first Chinese rally on the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, 1924. He Xiangning opened hospitals and schools for women in Guangzhou.
The Liao Zhongkai Assassination and War Career
After the death of Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, the right and left wing of the Kuomintang competed for leadership in the party. Liao Zhongkai, left-wing leader, was killed in Guangzhou in August. [3] He Xiangning remained with him throughout the whole time and all her things were saturated with his blood.
Chiang Kai-shek , who began the campaign of the Kuomintang National Revolutionary Army of China against the northern militarists, was immediately appointed leader of the party. In support of the campaign, He organized the Red Cross movement, uniting working-class women and sending them to Wuhan . However, when the Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek, opposed the Communists in 1927, many of these women were killed. In connection with this event, He left party politics.
for the next 20 years [4] . She moved to Hong Kong and Singapore, traveled all over Europe, exhibited her works at exhibitions in London, Paris, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland [3] .
After the Mukden incident and the subsequent Japanese intervention in Manchuria in 1931, He Xiangning returned to Shanghai, organizing with the Shen Junzhu (沈 钧 儒) National Salvation Association, with the goal of resisting Japanese aggression [3] . She was forced to flee Shanghai after the Second Battle of Shanghai in 1937, and from Hong Kong after the Hong Kong Defense in 1941. Then, during the Sino-Japanese War , He spent several years in Guilin .
People's Republic of China
In 1948, during the Chinese Civil War , He Xiangning, Li Jishen and other Kuomintang party members opposed to the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek organized the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee [3] . After the victory of the Communists in the civil war and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the revolutionary moved to Beijing and took several high posts in the Communist government. She was appointed vice-chairman of the National Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Council of China (1954-64), vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the All-China People’s Congress (1959-72), chairman of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee (1960-72), chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and honorary Chairman of the China Women’s Federation [3] .
He Xiangning worked until 1959, until she was 80 years old. And even after that, she continued to occupy some official posts. September 1, 1972 [5] , Hae died of pneumonia at the age of 94. She was buried with her husband, Liao Zhongkai, in his mausoleum in Nanjing [1] .
Art
In July 1960, as a well-known artist of the Lynn School of Chinese Art, He Xiangning was elected the third chairman of the Chinese Association of Artists [6] . The girl preferred to draw plum and pine blossoms, as well as tigers and lions. A collection of her paintings was published in 1979 in Guangdong [3] .
On April 18, 1997, He Xiangning Art Museum opened in Shenzhen . This is the first national-level museum in China, opened in honor of one artist. President Jiang Zemin made a calligraphic inscription for the name of the museum [7] . In June 1988, China Post issued 3 postage stamps (1998-15T) with her paintings [8] .
During his career, He Xiangning published such collections as The Collection of Illustrations by He Xiangning (《何香凝 画集》), The Collection of Poetry and Calligraphy He Xiangning (《何香凝 诗画 辑》) and The Collection of Poetry and Calligraphy Shuangqing (《双 清 诗画 集》).
Family
He Xiangning and Liao Zhongkai had two children. Their daughter, Liao Manxing, was a well-known translator from Japanese, English and French. Their son, Liao Chenzhi, was a member of the Politburo , and also served as vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee . In 1983, before his sudden death, he was appointed vice president of China. Liao Chenzhi’s son, Liao Hui , was the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Committee and vice chairman of the China Political Consultative Conference Committee [2] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, AD (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century, 1912-2000. ME Sharpe. pp. 200-204. ISBN 978-0-7656-0798-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 Ming Xin (2014). "廖承志 和 他 的 母亲 何香凝" [Liao Chengzhi and his mother He Xiangning]. National People's Congress of China (in Chinese) (15): 51-53.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Song, Yuwu (2013). Biographical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China . McFarland p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4766-0298-1 .
- ↑ 1 2 Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers . ABC-CLIO. 2001. pp. 292-3. ISBN 978-1-57607-101-4 .
- ↑ "1972 年 9 月 1 日 民革 中央 主席 、 画家 何香凝 病逝 . " People's Daily (in Chinese). Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- ↑ “中国美协 简介” Archived April 11, 2016 to Wayback Machine (in Chinese). China Artists Association. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- ↑ “Introduction” Archived March 2, 2016 to Wayback Machine (in Chinese). He Xiangning Art Museum. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
- ↑ "1998-15 《何香凝 国画 作品》 特种 邮票" Archived May 2, 2019 to Wayback Machine (in Chinese). China Stamps. Retrieved February 27, 2016.