Zhang Zhixin

Zhang Zhixin (; 5 December 1930 – 4 April 1975) was a dissident during the Cultural Revolution who became famous for criticizing the idolization of Mao Zedong and the ultra-left. She was imprisoned for six years (1969 to 1975) and tortured, then executed, for having opposing views while being a member of the Chinese Communist Party. A second party member who had expressed agreement with Zhang was sentenced to 18 years in prison. her experience is also a reminder of the potential punishment for deviating from party principles.

She did not consider herself anti-communist, but rather a "true Marxist" for whom Mao had distorted the communist cause. Even in prison, she insisted she was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Many of her points of view were similar to those of the Communist leaders who succeeded Mao. For this reason, she was rehabilitated by Hu Yaobang and recognized as a revolutionary martyr, a model communist.

Early life Zhang Zhixin was born in Tianjin in 1930. She was educated at Renmin University of China from 1951 to 1952 and later worked in the university. Zhang later became a member of the Communist Party Propaganda Department at Liaoning province. She saved up 2 yuan a month to purchase books to read in the facility, where she wrote her study notes on toilet paper. The prison guards then took her pen away. She proclaimed that the party would be "punished by history; if not sooner, then later". For a year and a half she was frequently shackled in leg irons and tied in a harness. It is reported that her larynx was slit before the execution, in order to prevent her from speaking. She was promoted as a martyr, in part related to the posthumous rehabilitation of Liu Shaoqi's reputation. In 1979, Shanghai Television produced a TV drama based on the life of Zhang Zhixin, titled . In 2019, the Chinese government listed Zhang Zhixin as one of the “Most Beautiful Strivers.”