leader in the National Salvation Movement

leader in the National Salvation Movement

Zou Taofen (November 5, 1895 - July 24, 1944), male, Han nationality, was originally named Enrun. His breast name was Yinshu, and his former name was Li Jinqing. His ancestral home is Shatang village, Dukou village committee, Huangxi Town, Yujiang District, Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province. He was born in Yongan, Fujian Province in 1895. Journalists and publishers in modern China.

In 1922, he was the director of the Chinese Vocational Education Society founded by Huang Yanpei and others, and began to engage in education and work. In 1926, he took over the post of editor in chief of Life Weekly. With sharp pen, he advocated just public opinion and attacked the dark forces.

After the September 18th Incident in 1931, Zou Taofen devoted himself to the Anti Japanese and national salvation movement in Shanghai. In December 1935, he, Shen Junru, Li Linyu and others organized the establishment of the Shanghai Cultural rescue Congress. In November 1936, in order to put out the Anti Japanese fire in China, the Kuomintang arrested Shen Junru, Zou Taofen and other seven leaders of the National Salvation Association who were leading the Anti Japanese and national salvation movement, which led to the seven gentlemen incident and was strongly opposed by the people of the whole country, including Song Qingling, He Xiangning and other celebrities. After his release from prison, Zou Taofen went to Chongqing, Hankou and Hong Kong to continue his patriotic and national salvation work.

In 1943, he secretly returned to Shanghai for treatment because of ear cancer. On July 24, 1944, he died in Shanghai hospital (now Shanghai Second People's Hospital) at the age of 48.

In 1956, the Shanghai municipal government funded the restoration of Zou Taofen's former residence and established the Taofen Memorial next door. In 2009, Zou Taofen was rated as one of the 100 heroic models who made outstanding contributions to the founding of new China.

Life of the characters

Childhood life

Zou Taofen was born on November 5, 1895, in Xiadu Village, Yong'an City, Fujian Province. His grandfather, Zou Shuyu, was named Xiaocun village. He passed the exam of Bagong in the former Qing Dynasty. He successively served as county magistrate of Yongan and Changle in Fujian Province, and then as magistrate of Yanping. His father, Zou Guozhen, is Yongqian. His mother, Zha, married to Zou family at the age of 15. Zou Taofen had three sons and three daughters.

In 1899, Zou Taofen's grandfather retired in old age, and his father and his family became alternate officials in Fuzhou. At this time, the Zou family's way of life had been declining, and their life was in short supply. As the eldest son, Zou Taofen experienced the hardships of life from childhood.

When Zou Taofen was just six years old, his father read "Three Character Classic" and started his early feudal enlightenment education in the private school environment of "prison". This kind of education and edification had a certain negative impact on Zou Taofen's early ideological development, but also cultivated his solid literary foundation.

Study period

In the spring of 1909, under the influence of his father's idea of "saving the country through industry", Zou Taofen was admitted to Fuzhou polytechnic school. Two years later, he was sent to the primary school affiliated to Shanghai Nanyang public school. His father hoped that he would be an engineer in the future. But Zou Taofen thought that his nature "really does not deserve to be an engineer". He was here, from primary school, middle school, to the second grade of electrical engineering. Although he studied hard and got excellent results, he was not interested in subjects such as mathematics and physics and failed to fulfill his father's wish.

In the eighth year of the Republic of China (September 1919), Zou Taofen was admitted to the third year of Liberal Arts in Shanghai St. John's University.

Graduation work

In July 1921, Zou Taofen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He wanted to get into the press, but he didn't get a chance. It happened that Shanghai housheng gauze exchange needed an English secretary. Zou Taofen took office and became a staff member of the industrial and commercial circles. After that, Zou Taofen took a part-time job in Shanghai vocational education institutions, doing some writing, translation and so on.

In 1922, introduced by Huang Yanpei, Zou Taofen was the director of China Vocational Education Society, and was responsible for editing the monthly journal of education and occupation and the series of vocational education. He participated in the career guidance movement launched by the society, and went to Ningbo, Nanjing, Wuhan, Jinan and other places with his colleagues. This is the first time that Zou Taofen went deep into the society for investigation and research.

As editor in chief

In October 1926, the former editor in chief of Life Weekly was transferred to the banking industry, and Zou Taofen was responsible for Life Weekly. Zou Taofen was able to engage in the work of press and publication he dreamed of. He decided to carry out a great innovation on life weekly from content to form according to the needs of society and readers. He determined that the purpose of the journal was "to imply the cultivation of life, to arouse the spirit of service, and to strive for social transformation". Tao Fen is his pseudonym when he edited Life Weekly. The reason why he chose this pseudonym is to encourage himself.

In 1930, in order to meet the growing demand of readers, Zou Taofen set up the "book and newspaper agency department" to provide readers with services. Later, Zou Taofen gradually developed into a life bookstore with more than 50 or 60 branches and offices in China.

Patriotism and national salvation

On September 26, 1931, eight days after the September 18th Incident, Zou Taofen reported the incident in Life Weekly. Since then, in order to publicize the Anti Japanese War, Zou Taofen never put down his pen. At the same time, he also used the influence of Life Weekly among readers to organize donations for the front-line Anti Japanese soldiers. In view of the situation of the Anti Japanese War, he repeatedly criticized the compromise behavior of the Kuomintang government. He actively supported patriotic movements all over the country and raised funds for patriots such as the 19th Route Army. Life Weekly held high the banner of "resisting Japan and saving the nation" and became a public opinion position focusing on publicizing the unity of Anti Japanese War and condemning surrender and betrayal.

In January 1933, Zou Taofen joined the China Civil Rights Protection Alliance sponsored by Song Qingling, Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun, and was elected executive member. After that, he took an active part in the Democratic Movement for people's freedom and rights. He and life week were persecuted one after another.

Exile abroad

On June 18, 1933, Yang Xingfo, a patriot and Democrat, was assassinated by the secret agent of the Kuomintang blue clothes society, and Zou Taofen was also blacklisted. On July 14 of that year, Zou Taofen went to Europe and began his first exile. He visited Italy, Switzerland, France, Britain, Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States, collected a lot of valuable materials, and made many notes on what he saw and heard along the way. At the end of the year, Life Weekly was seized by the Kuomintang government. After two years of on-the-spot investigation and study abroad, Zou Taofen's thought has made great progress and improvement, gradually shifting his stand, viewpoint and method to Marxism.

Return home with determination

In May 1935, the "new life incident" happened. The KMT government closed the magazine and arrested Du Chongyuan, its editor in chief. Zou Taofen was very dissatisfied with it. In August of the same year, he left the United States and returned to China. After returning to China, Zou Taofen took an active part in the Anti Japanese national salvation movement.

On November 16, 1935, he founded the weekly "public life" in Shanghai. Soon after, the "129th movement" broke out, and "public life" gave strong support to the Anti Japanese and national salvation movement. Zou Taofen made a series of comments in the newspapers, denouncing the traitorous behavior of the Kuomintang authorities, and vigorously publicized and enthusiastically supported the patriotic national salvation movement of the students. He highly praised the student salvation movement: "this is the vanguard of the mass movement and the dawn of the future of national liberation!" He called on all people who really take the national liberation struggle as the premise to "jointly hold up the banner of the national liberation struggle, support the student national salvation movement with blood and sincerity, and promote the overall efforts of the whole nation!" As a result, the magazine was warmly welcomed by the general public. In December of the same year, the sales volume of the magazine reached 200000 copies, surpassing the original life weekly, breaking the publication record of Chinese magazines at that time. Also in December, together with Shen Junru, Li Linyu and others, he organized the Shanghai Cultural rescue Congress and was elected as the executive member.

The reactionaries attacked Zou Taofen personally, and strictly restricted "public life", forbidding it to be sold everywhere and sent by post office. They also sent political lobbyists one after another to woo and induce Zou Taofen to submit. In this regard, Zou Taofen made it clear: "if you do not take part in the national salvation movement, you must try your best to stand on the front line, and your life and death should be excluded."

Propagandizing the Anti Japanese War

On February 29th of the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), the 16th issue of "public life" was sealed up by the Kuomintang government. Zou Taofen left Shanghai for Hong Kong in March 1936. In order to publicize the idea of saving the nation in the war of resistance against Japan and disseminate information from all over the world, he began to organize life daily with his good friend Jin Zhonghua shortly after he arrived in Hong Kong. After months of hard work day and night, life daily was finally published on June 7. In his address, Zou Taofen clearly pointed out that "the two major purposes of this newspaper are to promote national liberation and actively promote popular culture", and strive to "reflect the most urgent demands of the people of the whole country at this stage from the standpoint of the people". After the publication of the newspaper, it actively publicized the thought of saving the nation from the war of resistance against Japan. In less than two months, it had a far-reaching influence and effectively promoted the patriotic movement of saving the nation from extinction in Southwest China. However, in view of the fact that Hong Kong is far away from home, its geographical location is inconvenient and its information is blocked, Zou Taofen announced that he would move to Shanghai for publication from August 1 according to the readers' requirements.

On May 31, 1936, in response to the call of the Communist Party of China to establish an anti Japanese national united front, Zou Taofen, Shen Junru and others initiated the establishment of the national salvation Federation in Shanghai, and published the basic conditions and latest guidelines for uniting against aggression

Chinese PinYin : Zou Tao Fen