Luo Shiwen

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Luo Shiwen

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Luo Shiwen.jpg

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name = 罗世文

| native_name_lang = Chinese

| birth_name =

| other_name =

| nickname =

| birth_date = August 1904

| birth_place = Weiyuan County, Sichuan, China

| disappeared_date =

| disappeared_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|1946|8|18|1904|08||df=y}}

| death_place = Chongqing, China

| death_cause = Execution

| placeofburial =

| placeofburial_label =

| placeofburial_coordinates =

| allegiance = Chinese Soviet Republic

| branch = Chinese Red Army

| branch_label =

| serviceyears =

| serviceyears_label =

| rank =

| rank_label =

| servicenumber =

| unit =

| commands =

| known_for =

| battles =

| alma_mater=Communist University of the Toilers of the East

| battles_label =

| awards =

| memorials =

| spouse =

| children =

| relations =

| laterwork =

| signature =

| signature_size =

| signature_alt =

| website =

| module = {{infobox Chinese|s={{linktext|罗|世|文}}|t={{linktext|羅|世|文}}|p=Luō Shìwén|w ={{tonesup|Lo1 Shih4wen2}}|child=yes}}

}}

Luo Shiwen ({{zh|t=羅世文|s=罗世文|p=Luō Shìwén|first=t}}, August 1904{{sndash}} 18 August 1946) was a Chinese communist. Born in Weiyuan County, Sichuan, he became interested in communism during the May Fourth Movement before joining the Chinese Socialist Youth League in 1923 and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1925. After three years in the Soviet Union, he returned to China in 1928 and was dispatched to advise General {{ill|Kuang Jixun|zh|旷继勋}} when his forces declared themselves part of the Red Army. After several victories against the Kuomintang (KMT), the communist forces were defeated at Kaijiang, and Luo was subsequently sent to provide training in the {{ill|Sichuan–Shanxi Soviet|zh|川陝革命根據地}}.

He returned to Sichuan in 1937, working to develop a united front against the encroaching Imperial Japanese Army. Although a Second United Front was established between the KMT and CCP, Luo was arrested by the KMT in March 1940. Imprisoned first at Baigongguan, he was transferred to the Xifeng concentration camp and later led a secret CCP cell there. Luo was executed by the KMT on 18 August 1946. He is commemorated with several monuments, and his story has been told in the 1964 novel Red Crag, its 1965 film adaptation, and a 2021 film.

Biography

=Early life=

Luo was born in the village of Guanyingtan, part of Weiyuan County, Sichuan, in August 1904.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} He was the son of a salt-monger, who went bankrupt the year of his birth and died when Luo was three.{{sfn|Shi|2019}} Luo attended a church-run school in Chongqing beginning in late 1920, his studies bankrolled by his uncle,{{sfn|The Paper|2022}} then enrolled at the Chongqing Class A Commercial School.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} At the time, following the May Fourth Movement and in the midst of the New Culture Movement, he and his cousins had begun reading communist publications,{{harvnb|Sichuan Annals|2017}}; {{harvnb|Shi|2019}} having been attracted to the ideology by the Zigong Student Union. As an adult, he took the courtesy name Ziyuan ({{zhi|自元}}).{{sfn|The Paper|2022}}

In 1923, Luo joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League,{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=401}} becoming its secretary the following year.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} With peers such as {{ill|Xiao Chu'nu|zh|萧楚女}} and {{ill|Yang Angong|zh|杨闇公}}, he became involved in activism, including protests conducted as part of the May Thirtieth Movement.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} In 1925, Luo joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP);{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} throughout his time with the party, he used numerous pseudonyms, including Sefu {{nowrap|({{zhi|瑟夫}})}}, Chemu ({{zhi|澈木}}), Tasheng ({{zhi|特生}}), and Shaotang ({{zhi|绍堂}}).{{sfn|The Paper|2022}} Shortly after joining the party, he was sent to the Soviet Union to study at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East.{{sfn|The Paper|2022}}

Returning to China three years later, Luo was dispatched by the Sichuan CCP branch to work with the 7th Mixed Brigade of the 28th Army in Pengxi.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} At the time, the CCP was in a state of war against the Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.{{sfn|Kerr|Wright|2015}} With Luo serving as the political advisor to General {{ill|Kuang Jixun|zh|旷继勋}}, the 7th Mixed Brigade{{sndash}} having declared themselves the First Sichuan Route of the Chinese Red Army, and reportedly 3,000 strong at their peak{{sfn|The Paper|2022}}{{sndash}} captured the Pengxi County seat, then moved on to fight in Yingshan and Quxian before being defeated at Kaijiang in a failed bid to capture Maoerzhai. Luo escaped and returned to Chongqing, where he advised the provincial committee of the loss.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}}

=Communist leadership=

As the Chinese Civil War escalated, in 1930 the KMT captured and executed much of the CCP's leadership in Sichuan. Luo, having gone underground, reestablished a provincial committee with other surviving communists. At first serving as propaganda director, in 1931 he was made the secretary of the CCP's Sichuan Provincial Committee. Under Luo, the CCP instigated peasant uprisings in Jiangjin, Guanghan, and Liangshan.{{harvnb|Howard|2004|p=401}}; {{harvnb|Sichuan Annals|2017}} After the Mukden incident of 18 September 1931, which was followed by the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Luo began promoting anti-Japanese sentiments while simultaneously inciting more uprisings.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}}

In August 1933,{{sfn|The Paper|2022}} Luo was dispatched by the Central Committee of the CCP to the {{ill|Sichuan–Shanxi Soviet|zh|川陝革命根據地}} of the Chinese Soviet Republic to lead its training classes.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} There, he worked with Liao Chengzhi,{{sfn|Shi|2019}} teaching introductions to Leninism and{{sndash}} with {{ill|Liu Ruilong|zh|刘瑞龙}}, Fu Zhong, and Hu Manshi{{sndash}} preparing the Young Pioneers Textbook ({{zhi|少先队课本}}).{{sfn|The Paper|2022}} However, after coming into conflict with Zhang Guotao,{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=401}} he was detained, and remained under surveillance through the Long March. Only after Zhang's Fourth Front Army met with other communist troops was Luo released to the Central Committee. He thereafter spent time teaching at the Red Army School.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}}

As the Imperial Japanese Army moved southward and the Second Sino-Japanese War escalated, in 1937 Luo was sent to meet with Liu Xiang and Pan Wenhua, both of whom were prominent members of Sichuan society. Seeking their support for armed action against the Japanese, Luo proposed a united front to help deter an invasion of the province. Meanwhile, Luo stoked anti-Japanese sentiment in Chengdu and Chongqing, working in conjunction with {{ill|Zhang Shushi|zh|张曙时}}, Che Yaoxian, and Wang Ganqing. With the establishment of a special CCP committee in Sichuan in 1938, Luo served as its secretary;{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} by this point, he was also an editor of the CCP periodical Xinhua Daily.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=339}}

However, tensions remained high between the CCP and KMT, and after a rice rush in 1940, Dai Li ordered the detention of known communists in Chengdu.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=339}} Luo was captured by the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics{{sndash}} the KMT's intelligence agency{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=235}}{{sndash}} and tortured, while other communists were buried alive.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=340}} According to the historian Joshua H. Howard, this was the first arrest of a representative of the Second United Front.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=235}}

=Internment and death=

Initially, Luo was held at Baigongguan in the Geleshan Mountains. However, in late 1940 he was transferred to Xifeng concentration camp.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} In March 1941, {{ill|Zhou Yanghao|zh|周养浩}} was appointed the camp's director and began implementing a series of reforms.{{sfn|Mühlhahn|2009|p=137}} Luo and other CCP members interned at Xifeng used these relaxations to establish a "Secret Cell", under Luo's leadership. This cell, which eventually extended to all CCP members and sympathizers in the camp, used carefully orchestrated resistance to pressure the camp administration to allow barracks to remain open during daytime hours, reduce beatings, and improve food quality.{{sfn|Mühlhahn|2009|p=144}} According to the Xifeng Concentration Camp Revolutionary History Memorial Hall, Luo and his fellow communists also sought the well-being of individual prisoners, successfully petitioning camp leadership to allow husband-and-wife Song Qiyun and Xu Linxia to meet regularly.{{sfn|Xifeng Concentration Camp Revolutionary History Memorial Hall|2021}} Several members of the group{{sndash}} including Luo{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}}{{sndash}} gained positions that enabled them to spread Communist literature,{{sfn|Mühlhahn|2009|p=144}} using coded messages in the camp publications Resurrection Weekly ({{zhi|复活周刊}}) and Yangzheng Weekly ({{zhi|养正周刊}}),{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} though prisoners continued to be required to prove their dedication to the KMT's ideology.{{sfn|Mühlhahn|2010|p=553}}

File:鬆林坡雕像.jpg (left) and Luo Shiwen at the former Zhazidong Prison]]

During negotiations between the CCP and KMT, the CCP inquired about Luo and Che.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=522}} At the time, he was still held at Xifeng. In July 1946, following the camp's closure, Luo was sent to Zhazidong Prison.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} He was executed there, together with Che Yaoxian, on 18 August 1946 by Lu Jingqing, the director of Baigongguan prison.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=522}} His body was subsequently burned to conceal his identity.{{sfn|Wakeman|2003|p=453}}

Legacy

Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Luo was reinterred at Songlinpo by the Chongqing Municipal Government. A memorial hall to him and Che Yaoxian was later constructed at the site.{{sfn|Sichuan Annals|2017}} According to the Guangming Daily, an epithet for the two was personally inscribed by President Zhou Enlai upon their reinterment.{{sfn|Shi|2019}} An exhibition of Luo's handwriting is among the artefacts displayed at the {{ill|Geleshan Martyrs Cemetery|zh|重庆歌乐山烈士陵园}} in Shapingba, Chongqing.{{sfn|Wang|2022}} The Luo Shiwen Martyrs Historical Materials Exhibition Hall, established in 1996 in Neijiang, has been used for patriotic education in the city. {{As of|2021}}, efforts are underway to rebuild Luo's former residence in Xiangyi Village, Weiyuan County; the original site is densely populated, and thus a new site was chosen.{{sfn|Zheng|2021}}

Luo may have served as the inspiration for the character Xu Yunfeng in the 1961 novel Red Crag;{{efn|Other names proposed include {{ill|Wang Xiaohe (communist)|zh|王孝和|lt=Wang Xiaohe}} {{harv|Roberts|Li|2018|p=47}} and Che Yaoxian {{harv|Zuo|2022}}.}}{{sfn|Shi|2019}} the character was portrayed by Zhao Dan in the book's 1965 film adaptation, Eternity in Flames.{{sfn|Zuo|2022}} In 2021, filming began on Underground Fire ({{zhi|地火}}), an adaptation of Luo's life directed by Xu Geng that starred {{ill|Zhao Bo (actor)|zh|赵波 (演员)|lt=Zhao Bo}} as Luo. In an interview, Zhao identified Red Crag as one of his inspirations in portraying the character. The film premiered in Weiyuan County on 30 June 2022, with intent for a broader theatrical release as well as screening on the China Movie Channel.{{sfn|Yu|Zheng|2022}}

Explanatory notes

References

Works cited

{{cite news

|trans-title=Devoting One's Efforts to the Party and the People is the Least of One's Worries——Deeds of Martyr Luo Shiwen

|script-title=zh:许党为民万事轻——罗世文烈士事迹

|language=Chinese

|work=The Paper

|url=https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_17447937

|date=2 April 2022

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018142713/https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_17447937

|ref={{SfnRef|The Paper|2022}}

}}

{{cite book

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Yequ29RhDMC

| title=Workers at War: Labor in China's Arsenals, 1937–1953

| isbn=978-0-8047-4896-4

| last1=Howard

| first1=Joshua H.

| date=2004

| publisher=Stanford University Press

| location=Redwood City, California

}}

{{cite book

|isbn=978-0-19-968569-1

|editor1-last=Kerr

|editor1-first=Anne

|editor2-last=Wright

|editor2-first= Edmund

|year=2015

|title=A Dictionary of World History

|edition=3rd

|chapter=Chinese Civil War (1927–37; 1946–49)

|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199685691.001.0001/acref-9780199685691-e-794

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|location=Oxford

}}

{{Cite web

|url=http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/scyx/scrw/scszrwz/content_8060

|script-title=zh:罗世文

|trans-title=Luo Shiwen

|language=Chinese

|work=Sichuan Annals

|date=7 December 2017

|publisher=Sichuan Provincial Government

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018114343/http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/scyx/scrw/scszrwz/content_8060

|archive-date=18 October 2024

|ref={{sfnRef|Sichuan Annals|2017}}

}}

{{cite book

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXC2mmpfHgEC

| title=Criminal Justice in China: A History

| isbn=978-0-674-05433-2

| last1=Mühlhahn

| first1=Klaus

|author1-link=Klaus Mühlhahn

| date=2009

| publisher=Harvard University Press

|location=Cambridge

}}

{{cite journal

|doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00687.x

|title=The Concentration Camp in Global Historical Perspective

|date=2010

|last1=Mühlhahn

|first1=Klaus

|url=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00687.x

|journal=History Compass

|volume=8

|issue=6

|pages=543–561

}}

{{cite book

|editor1-last=Roberts

|editor1-first=Rosemary

|editor2-last=Li

|editor2-first=Li

|chapter=How to Tell a Story of Imprisonment: Ideology, Truth, and Melodramatic Body in the Making of Red Crag

|title=The Making and Remaking of China's "Red Classics": Politics, Aesthetics, and Mass Culture

|publisher=Hong Kong University Press

|isbn=978-988-8390-89-2

|location=Hong Kong

|pages=42–58

|doi=10.5790/hongkong/9789888390892.003.0003

|date=2018

|volume=1

}}

{{Cite news

|work=Guangming Daily

|url=https://www.12371.cn/2019/04/15/ARTI1555288455787267.shtml

|script-title=zh:罗世文：《红岩》英雄许云峰原型

|trans-title=Luo Shiwen: The Prototype of the Hero Xu Yunfeng in Red Crag

|language=Chinese

|via=Communist Party Member Network

|date=15 April 2019

|editor1-last=Shi

|editor1-first=Guanghui

|editor1-mask=Shi Guanghui (石光辉)

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018114343/http://scdfz.sc.gov.cn/scyx/scrw/scszrwz/content_8060

|archive-date=18 October 2024

}}

{{Cite web

|url=https://www.xifeng.gov.cn/ztzl/lszt/fdbnlqhxzc/xfhsjt/202108/t20210816_69545065.html

|script-title=zh:宋绮云在息烽集中营的铁窗岁月

|trans-title=Song Qiyun's Years Behind Bars in Xifeng Concentration Camp

|date=25 February 2021

|language=Chinese

|publisher=Xifeng Concentration Camp Revolutionary History Memorial Hall

|access-date=15 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241015115331/https://www.xifeng.gov.cn/ztzl/lszt/fdbnlqhxzc/xfhsjt/202108/t20210816_69545065.html

|archive-date=15 October 2024

|via=Xifeng County Government

|ref={{sfnRef|Xifeng Concentration Camp Revolutionary History Memorial Hall|2021}}

}}

{{cite book

|last1 = Wakeman

|first1 = Frederic

|author-link1 = Frederic Wakeman

|year = 2003

|title = Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o3ckDQAAQBAJ

|series = Philip E. Lilienthal book

|location = Berkeley

|publisher = University of California Press

|page = 396

|isbn = 978-0-520-23407-9

}}

{{Cite encyclopedia

|url=https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?SiteID=1&ID=139435&Type=bkzyb&SubID=196886

|script-title=zh:歌乐山烈士陵园

|trans-title=Geleshan Martyrs Cemetery

|last1=Wang

|first1=Hongjun

|author1-mask=Wang Hongjun (王宏钧)

|date=20 January 2022

|language=Chinese

|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of China

|edition=3rd

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018135940/https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?SiteID=1&ID=139435&Type=bkzyb&SubID=196886#selection-469.0-469.7

|archive-date=18 October 2024

}}

{{cite news

|publisher=Sichuan Daily Network Media Development Co., Ltd

|work=Sichuan Online

|url=https://sichuan.scol.com.cn/ggxw/202207/58557454.html

|date=1 July 2022

|last1=Yu

|author1-mask=Yu Rubo (余如波),

|first1=Rubo

|last2=Zheng

|first2=Zhihao

|author2-mask=Zheng Zhihao (郑志浩)

|trans-title= The Film "Underground Fire" Premiered in Weiyuan; The Creators Paid Tribute to the Martyr Luo Shiwen: He was Like an "Old Friend I have Never Met"

|language=Chinese

|script-title=zh:电影《地火》在威远首映主创致敬罗世文烈士：就像一位“未曾谋面的老朋友”

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018151808/https://sichuan.scol.com.cn/ggxw/202207/58557454.html

}}

{{cite news

|publisher=Sichuan Daily Network Media Development Co., Ltd

|work=Sichuan Online

|url=https://sichuan.scol.com.cn/ggxw/202101/58037282.html

|date=27 January 2021

|last1=Zheng

|first1=Zhihao

|author1-mask=Zheng Zhihao (郑志浩)

|trans-title= Entering the Original Heart (1931–1940){{!}} Luo Shiwen Martyrs Historical Materials Exhibition Hall, Reconstructing His Former Residence, and Preparing to Shoot a "Film and Drama", Weiyuan tells the Red Story of the Martyrs Well

|language=Chinese

|script-title=zh:走进初心地（1931-1940）{{!}} 罗世文烈士史料陈列馆②复建故居、筹拍"影剧" 威远这样讲好先烈红色故事

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-date=18 October 2024

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20241018150237/https://sichuan.scol.com.cn/ggxw/202101/58037282.html

}}

{{cite news

|publisher=China Communist Party News Network

|work=People's Daily

|url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2022/1029/c443712-32554411.html

|date=29 October 2022

|last1=Zuo

|first1=Heng

|author1-mask=Zuo Heng (左衡)

|trans-title=How the Movie "Forever in Flames" was Born

|language=Chinese

|script-title=zh:电影《烈火中永生》这样诞生

|access-date=18 October 2024

|archive-date=18 April 2023

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230418170144/http://cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2022/1029/c443712-32554411.html

}}

Luo Shiwen

Biography

=Early life=

=Communist leadership=

=Internment and death=

Legacy

Explanatory notes

References

Works cited

Further reading