Liu Ying (revolutionary)
Liu Ying (; born Liu Shengmu (); November 26, 1905 – May 18, 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary, military political commissar, and senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader. He served as secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Zhejiang Provincial Committee from 1938 until his execution by the Kuomintang in 1942. Together with Su Yu, Liu was one of the principal founders of the Communist revolutionary base area in southwestern Zhejiang and a leading organizer of the anti-Japanese resistance in the province. Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, he was posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr.
Biography
Liu was born into a peasant family in Fenggang Township, Ruijin County, Jiangxi, on November 26, 1905. He attended a local primary school before becoming a village teacher. During the 1920s he was influenced by the ideas of the New Culture Movement through publications such as New Youth, gradually embracing revolutionary politics. After operating a rice shop in Ruijin, he came into contact with underground Communist organizers, an experience that led him to abandon civilian life and join the revolutionary movement.
In April 1929, Liu joined the Chinese Red Army under Mao Zedong and Zhu De, changing his name from Liu Shengmu to Liu Ying. He became a member of the Chinese Communist Party later that year and participated in all five Encirclement campaigns in the Jiangxi Soviet. Rising through the ranks, he successively served as an accountant, political instructor, regimental political commissar, divisional political commissar, and director of a corps political department.
In July 1934, Liu was appointed director of the Political Department of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army North Anti-Japanese Advance Detachment, formed from the Red 7th Army. After the force suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Mount Huaiyu, he and Su Yu reorganized the remaining troops into the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army Advance Division, with Liu serving as political commissar. Despite commanding fewer than 600 troops, they established a durable Communist guerrilla base in southwestern Zhejiang and waged a sustained campaign against Kuomintang forces for more than three years. During this period, Liu also served as secretary of the Provisional CCP Minzhebian Provincial Committee and political commissar of the provincial military district.
Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Liu negotiated with the Nationalist authorities in Zhejiang to end armed conflict between the two sides and promote a united resistance against Japan. The Communist guerrilla force was reorganized as the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Detachment of the Minzhe Border Region. Liu subsequently remained in Zhejiang to direct Party work while the main force moved to Anhui. In May 1938, he became secretary of the Provisional Chinese Communist Party Zhejiang Provincial Committee, and after the committee became a formal provincial organization in September, he continued as its secretary.
Under Liu's leadership, the CCP rapidly expanded its organization throughout Zhejiang. At the First Zhejiang Provincial Congress of the Chinese Communist Party held in Pingyang in July 1939, he was elected provincial Party secretary while also serving as head of the United Front Work Department and director of the Women's Movement Committee. Between 1939 and 1941, the provincial committee operated from Lishui, where Liu coordinated Party work across Zhejiang, strengthened the Second United Front, established communication with underground Communist organizations in Shanghai, and expanded the Party's organizational network from fewer than 2,000 members to nearly 20,000. In 1941, he was appointed a member of the Central China Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party and was entrusted with overseeing Party affairs in the Fujian–Zhejiang–Jiangxi border region.
On February 8, 1942, Liu was arrested in Wenzhou after being betrayed by his bodyguard. Despite repeated interrogation, torture, and offers of clemency by the Nationalist authorities, he refused to reveal Party secrets or renounce his political beliefs. On May 18, 1942, during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, he was secretly executed at Fangyan in Yongkang when he was 36 years old.
Following the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liu was posthumously recognized as a revolutionary martyr. Mao Zedong later praised him, stating: "Those who sacrifice themselves for the people will always be remembered by the people."
Personal life
Liu's son, Liu Xirong, later became deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and vice chairman of the Law Committee of the National People's Congress.