He Zizhen
wife of Mao Zedong (1909-1984)
He Zizhen (Chinese: 贺子珍; pinyin: Hè Zizhēn; Wade–Giles: Ho Tzu-chen; 20 September 1910 – 19 April 1984) was a Chinese soldier, revolutionary, and politician who was the third wife of Chairman Mao Zedong from 1928 to 1937 and participated in the Long March.
Early life and career
He Zizhen was born in Yunshan (云山, now Yongxin County), Jiangxi, in 1910, as He Guiyuan (贺桂圆), the second of four children. Her family were impoverished scholar-gentry that ran a tea house and sent He to a free Protestant missionary school in her youth. She joined the Communist Youth League of China in 1925 along with her siblings. He Zizhen later graduated from the Yongxin Girls' School and became a full member of the Chinese Communist Party in 1926.
Revolutionary life
Early communist activities
As a party member He Zizhen was made head of the county's Women's Bureau and worked as a traveling propagandist. She fought in the Yongxin uprising of 1927 and began serve as a communist partisan. An expert in guerrilla warfare and a capable fighter, He Zizhen was also an excellent shooter who earned the nickname of "Two-Gunned Girl General".
Relationship with Mao and the Long March
He Zizhen was introduced to Mao Zedong at Jinggangshan by Yuan Wencai, a classmate of her elder brother, in the spring of 1928. Yuan's wife Xie Meixiang recalled that she and Yuan had arranged for He to care for Mao when he fell ill and subsequently encouraged the two to begin a relationship.
The public source identifies “He Zizhen” as wife of Mao Zedong (1909-1984). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Zizhen, wife and Zedong.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q272321. VIAF identifies the subject as 23576149. The Library of Congress control number is n85146796. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1984, 1928 and 1937.
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This entry incorporates text from “He Zizhen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.