Liu Zhidan

Liu Zhidan (4 October 1903 – 14 April 1936), also known as Liu Chih-tan, was a Chinese military commander and Communist leader, who founded the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Base Area in north-west China, which became the Yan'an Soviet.

Biography Liu Zhidan was born in 1902/3 into a literati family in Bao'an, since renamed Zhidan County in his honour, in northern Shaanxi Province. He was given the name Jinggui (, Jǐngguì), which he later changed to Zhidan. In Yulin, he was influenced by the May Fourth Movement and joined the Chinese Communist Youth League and the Society for Mutual Progress, a progressive civic organization. In 1929, he described his view that achieving revolution in China would require uniting with "the masses and with people from all walks of life, including Nationalist officials, gentry figures, and even old gentlemen." During the Cultural Revolution, Liu's grave was ransacked by Red Guards. After the Cultural Revolution, Liu's legacy was rehabilitated.