Chen Tanqiu

Chen Tanqiu graduated from Wuhan Higher Normal School (present day Wuhan University) after which he played a leadership role in the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Chen then created the Wuhan Communist group with Dong Biwu in 1920. In 1921, Chen and Dong Biwu went to the meeting that established the CCP, later known as the first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.^[1]


After he returned from the national congress, Chen continued as the local leader of the CCP. In February 1923, Chen was one of the leaders who organized the February 7th Jinghan Railway Strike that sparked the labor movement nationwide.


Chen Tanqiu was a delegate of the CCP to the Comintern between 1935 and 1939. Chen was also elected to the third, fifth, sixth and seventh national CCP Congress. However, the delegates of the seventh national party congress were not aware of his execution by Sheng Shicai in 1943.