Jin Weiying (金维映, 16 August 1904 – c. 1940/1941), sometimes known as Ah Jin, was a Chinese teacher, revolutionary, trade unionist, member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and participant in the Long March.
Early life.
Jin was born into a progressive gentry family on 16 August 1904 in the Dinghai District, Republic of China (ROC). She moved with her family to the Zhoushan Islands as a child.
Jin was educated at the Ningpo Women's Normal School under the principal Shen Yi and became a teacher.
Revolutionary activity.
Jin joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1926, and was appointed as a leader of a CCP cell in Dinghai. During this time she was nicknamed "the Girl General of Dinghai" due to her agitating among workers to form a labour union.
After moving to Shanghai, Jin worked in a primary school and continued her involvement in union organising, becoming secretary of the Silk Workers Party Group. She also established a night school in 1930. In 1934, Jin was elected as a delegate to the Soviet Republic of China National Congress.
Jin was one of the thirty women who went with the First Front Red Army on the Long March. She worked as a political instructor with the convalescent unit and organised food supplies.
Personal life.
Jin met party member Deng Xiaoping in 1931 in Shanghai. They married in Ruijin during the summer 1932, but he fell into political disfavour, and they had divorced before 1934. Deng later became the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1989.
Soon after her divorce, Jin married the Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Weihan. They had a child, Li Tieying, in 1936.
Death.
By the spring of 1938, Jin became ill and was coughing up blood, and travelled to Kuchino, near Moscow in the Soviet Union for medical treatment and to study. Jin died in 1940 or 1941 and it is believed that her death occurred during German air raids in World War II.