Zhang Tailei

Zhang Tailei

Zhang Tailei ( Chinese  張太雷  /  张太雷 , Pinyin Zhāng Tàiléi , W.-G. Chang T'ai-lei ; * 1898 in Changzhou ( Jiangsu ); † December 12, 1927 in Guangzhou ) was one of the first leaders of the Chinese Communist Party and Organizer of the 1927 Guangzhou Uprising in which he was killed.

Zhang studied at Beiyang University in Tianjin , participated in the May 4th Movement and was a member of one of the first communist cells in Beijing . He organized an evening school for railroad workers on the outskirts of Beijing. In 1921 the Comintern brought him to Moscow, where he became director of the China department of the Comintern's Far East Office. He accompanied the Comintern representatives to talks with Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu , which led to the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party.

After returning to China, Zhang attended the First National Congress of Socialist Youth Associations in China and was elected Secretary General by the 25 delegates to that congress. On September 4, 1922 - the first united front had just been decided - he also joined the Kuomintang . He was subsequently elected to the Politburo as a non-permanent member , became Secretary of the Communist Party's South China Office and Chairman of the Military Committee. Despite his revolutionary sentiments, he married a woman from the country who had arranged his family according to Chinese tradition.

He supported the decision to organize uprisings in the cities that would lead to an overthrow in favor of the communists, and took over the organization of the Guangzhou uprising . The uprising that broke out in December 1927 resulted in the establishment of the council government of the Guangzhou Commune, of which Zhang was elected chairman. He died on December 12, 1927 in an attack by the Kuomintang on his office.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} James Z. Gao: Historical dictionary of modern China (1800-1949) . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2009, ISBN 978-0-8108-4930-3 , pp. 433-434 .
2. ↑ Dieter Kuhn : The Republic of China from 1912 to 1937 - Draft for a political history of events . 3. Edition. Edition Forum, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 3-927943-25-8 , p. 309 .
3. ↑ Dieter Kuhn : The Republic of China from 1912 to 1937 - Draft for a political history of events . 3. Edition. Edition Forum, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 3-927943-25-8 , p. 544 .

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Tailei is the first name.