Guo Zechen

Guo Zechen (; 1906 – October 1973) was a Chinese politician, economist, and democratic activist. Born in Jiefang Village in Lintong County, Shaanxi (now part of Yanliang District, Xi'an), he was active in the revolutionary and democratic movements of twentieth-century China. Guo participated in political activities associated with the Chinese Communist Party, the China Democratic League, and the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party. He attended the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1949 and later served as a deputy to the National People's Congress and as Vice Secretary-General of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Biography

Guo Zechen was born in 1906 in Jiefang Village in Lintong County, Shaanxi. He received a traditional education in his early years, studying at a private school beginning in 1915. In 1919 he enrolled in the Higher Primary School in Guanshan Town, and in 1923 he was admitted to the Shaanxi Provincial Third Middle School in Xi'an. In the spring of 1926 Guo went to Japan to study and joined the Chinese Communist Party the same year through the introduction of Cui Mengbo.

Following the breakdown of the First United Front and the Shanghai massacre of 1927, Guo returned to Japan, where he attended lectures at University of Tokyo as an auditor. In the winter of 1928 he returned to China together with Yang Hucheng. With Yang's financial support, Guo traveled to Germany in 1929 to study economics at the Humboldt University of Berlin. During his stay in Germany, his party membership was restored with the assistance of Chinese Communist Party members Wang Bingnan and Jiang Longji. In 1932 he was admitted to the Prussian Higher Police Academy, where he studied for two years.

Guo returned to China in July 1934 and was appointed political instructor for an infantry training class under the Xi'an Pacification Headquarters commanded by Yang Hucheng. After the Xi'an Incident in 1936, he served as a political instructor in the Shaanxi Provincial Security Command.

After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Guo served as director of the Political Training Department of the 177th Division. He was soon deployed with the unit to the western bank of the Yellow River. At that time, seven counties in the region organized mass committees to assist military defense along the river, and Guo was responsible for mobilizing local populations to cooperate with the army in defending the river line. He later served as director of the propaganda department of the Shaanxi Anti-Japanese Support Association and as a section chief in the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education.

In 1940 Guo moved to Chongqing, where he was appointed director of an army equipment manufacturing factory. During this period he joined the Chinese National Liberation Action Committee through the introduction of Zhang Bojun. In 1941 he also joined the China Democratic League. When the organization was reorganized in 1944, Guo was elected a member of its Central Committee and deputy director of the Organizational Committee, and he was appointed special representative responsible for the League's work in northwest China.

During the Chinese Civil War, Guo continued to participate in democratic political activities. In 1946 he went to Guiyang to help establish the Guizhou branch of the China Democratic League. At the same time he served as a professor of economics at the Overseas Chinese College in Chongqing and concurrently headed the Department of Business Administration at a commercial college. Later that year he was pursued by the Kuomintang authorities in Chongqing because of his political activities and moved to Shanghai, where he continued to engage in democratic movements.

In February 1947 the Chinese National Liberation Action Committee was reorganized as the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, and Guo was elected to its Central Standing Committee. During the civil war he cooperated with the Chinese Communist Party in united front work and helped organize contacts with Nationalist military figures in cities such as Jinan, Kaifeng, and Wuhu. These efforts were aimed at persuading certain commanders, including Wu Huawen and Feng Zhian, to defect or support peaceful transitions of power. Owing to his contributions to these efforts, he was later appointed a senior adviser to the Second Field Army of the People's Liberation Army.

In September 1949 Guo traveled to Beijing to attend the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he actively participated in political and social campaigns such as Land reform in China and the Three-anti Campaign and Five-anti Campaign. He also took part in various activities connected with socialist construction in the early years of the new state.

Guo served as a deputy to the first three sessions of the National People's Congress and as a member of the first through fourth sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. During the third and fourth sessions of the CPPCC he served as Vice Secretary-General of the national committee. He also held leadership positions in several democratic parties, including serving as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League and later as a member of the Central Committee. Within the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party he served successively as a member of the Central Work Committee, a member of the Central Executive Bureau, and a member of the Central Presidium as well as Secretary-General.

Guo Zechen died of illness in Beijing in October 1973.