Gong Peng

Gong Peng (October 10, 1914 – September 20, 1970), born Gong Cisheng and also known as Gong Weihang, was a Chinese wartime spokeswoman for the Chinese Communist Party. After 1949 she was an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, and was head of the Bureau of Information, the first woman to head a department.

Family Gong Peng's mother was Xu Wen (徐文). Her father, Gong Zhenzhou, was a revolutionary colleague of Sun Yat-sen, was politically active in Anhui following the 1911 Revolution, Chiang Kai-shek's classmate in the Baoding Military Academy, and a military leader in the Canton Military Government in 1917.

Gong Peng's first husband was Liu Wenhua (劉文華), who was killed in 1942. Her second husband, Qiao Guanhua, whom she married in 1943, was a leading diplomat and one of Zhou Enlai's trusted deputies.

Education and joining the Chinese Communist Party Gong Zhenzhou provided his daughters a good education in spite of the family's lack of money. After graduating from St. Mary's Hall, Shanghai, Gong Peng and Gong Pusheng both studied at Yenching University, a leading Christian university. To break the news blockade on student agitation imposed by the Nationalist Government, Gong Pusheng, in her capacity as vice-president of the Yenching University Students Union, and Gong Peng, also a student leader, held a press conference on campus informing foreign journalists about the movement. Among those present was American journalist Edgar Snow. Snow and his wife, Nym Wales, encouraged and supported the students, who often met at their house, and became especially close to the Gong sisters. When Snow returned from his secret visit to Mao Zedong's headquarters in Shaanxi, a friend shared the manuscript of his Red Star Over China with Gong, and she saw Mao for the first time in the short films Snow shot.

In 1936 Gong joined the Chinese Communist Party, then in 1937 graduated with a degree in history. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, as war broke out, Gong moved to Shanghai, where she taught at St. Maria's school from November 1937 to March 1938. She attended Mao's lectures and became his translator when he greeted English speaking guests. She was assigned to the Xinhua Daily North China edition, and got to know deputy commander of the Eighteenth Army Peng Dehuai. From October 1938 to October 1940, Gong served as the National Revolutionary Army Tenth Eighth Army headquarters secretary. In 1938, she fell in love with and married Liu Wenhua. Gong was transferred to the Eighth Route Army in Chongqing, an assignment that lasted from December 1940 to October 1946. She served as a journalist for Xinhua Daily and Secretary of CPC Delegation to Chongqing, which was headed by Zhou Enlai. Meanwhile, in June 1942, Liu Wenhua was killed making his way back from the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong. In late autumn 1943, at Zhou's suggestion, Gong and Qiao Guanhua were married. Mao Zedong praised the newlyweds for "leading the marriage revolution for thousands of miles". In July 1944, she gave birth to their first son, who later served as People's Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister. During the negotiations with the Nationalists, which included American diplomats who did not speak Chinese, Gong was at Mao's side. Gong also met with Chongqing intellectuals, some of whom she introduced to the CPC, such as architect Liang Sicheng.

After the war, an American woman journalist transported Gong's baby son to her family in Shanghai. Gong went to Hong Kong, where she stayed from October 1946 to August 1949. She began to express public criticism of the United States, charging that the country was moving towards fascism. She edited the English language China Digest (中国文摘 Zhongguo wen zhai), a weekly outlet for the Party, under the pseudonym Djoong Wai-Lo (鍾威洛), and was a member of the Hong Kong branch of several bureaus. She was responsible for the founding of the Hong Kong Xinhua Weekly the semi-official news organ. Among her longtime friends was Han Suyin, a classmate from Yenching who became a best-selling author who was sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Revolution.

The Foreign Ministry was targeted by ultra-leftists during the Cultural Revolution. Red Guard student groups pillaged Gong's home, and many of her colleagues at the Foreign Ministry were pressured or sent to labor camps. Gong was exhausted by overwork, leading to hypertension. On September 20, 1970, she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing at the age of 55. 49 years later, Hua Chunying became the second female director-general of the Information Department after Gong Peng.

In popular culture Zhang Ziyi plays Gong Peng in the film The Founding of a Republic.