“Red Maple”: A Revolution Martyr

Locating and bringing the bone ashes of Zhu Feng (1905-1950) back home in Ningbo is like an epic Sixty years after she faced a firing squad in Taipei， this was finally done

On the afternoon of July 12， 2011， a plane chartered by the country’s intel-ligence authorities took off from Beijing and touched down at Lishe International Airport of Ningbo at about 3:00 Five min-utes later， Zhu Feng’s granddaughter Xu Yunchu and grandson Li Yang came down the plane， the forming hold a portrait of Zhu Feng and the latter holding funerary casket containing the bone ashes of Zhu Feng The casket was wrapped up with a flag of the Communist Party of China

Zhu Feng’s daughter Zhu Xiaofeng， her son Zhu Ming and other family members were waiting at the airport for the arrival of the bone ashes

When the granddaughter handed the casket to the daughter of the martyr， she said， “Grandma， we are home” The granddaughter had gone to Beijing to take the casket back to Ningbo At the Beijing Airport， a brief ceremony took place Zhu Xiaofeng said， “Grandma， let’s go home”

She could have been buried at the Ba-baoshan Cemetery in the capital， the most glorious resting place for the most honored of the country， but the family chose to take the bone ashes back home so that the family can stay as close to her as possible

On the morning of July 14， a funeral cer-emony took place at Zhenhai Maosoleum for Revolutionary Martyrs At the Maple Garden， previously West Gate Park in Zhenhai， a ceremony was held to unveil a bronze statue of Zhu Feng， a 15-meter-tall bronze sculpture on a 23-meter-tall marble pedestal The bronze statue features a ma-ple leaf on the chest of the bust and seven maple leaves on the pedestal The park changed its name in honor of Zhu Feng In Chinese， the martyr’s given name Feng represents maple

Zhenhai honors the martyr in many other ways The Maple Garden has its name carved on a large rock at the entrance to the park A two-story wood house where Zhu Feng used to live has been preserved and refurbished since 1994 The 160-square-meter structure stands on the campus of Zhenhai Middle School The house serves as a memorial museum that features her life On display are objects she used She took part in student movements and patriotic movements from 1925 on She was engaged in undercover intelligence work from 1948 to 1950 Also on display are inscriptions by high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of China and her family

Zhu Feng was born in 1905 into a rich family specialized in fishing She joined the Communist Party in 1945 and worked in Shanghai doing undercover intelligence work In 1948， she came to Hong Kong and worked as an undercover agent She performed well and finished all the as-signments In October 1949 the People’s Republic of China was founded and she was ready to come back to the mainland In November that year， however， she was instructed to go to Taiwan Her task was to pick up secret information from Wu Shi， a deputy minister of the Defense Ministry of the KMT government in Taiwan The information was important， as the People’s Liberation Army were preparing to liberate Zhoushan Archipelago in Zhejiang Prov-ince and Jinmen Islands offshore Fujian Province

Her contacts were Wu Shi and Cai Xi-aoqian， the CPC chief in Taiwan Toward the end of November， Zhu Feng arrived in Taiwan She contacted Wu and Cai Wu gave Zhu two microfilms and Wu delivered it in Hong Kong The two microfilms were dispatched to the mainland In early February 1950， however， the CPC’s intelligence network in Taiwan headed by Cai was busted Zhu Feng was in danger Wu Shi sent his adjutant to Zhu， asking her to leave her house immediately and stay at a hotel On February 4， Wu Shi shipped Zhu Feng to Zhoushan， which was under his control at that time The plan was to get her cross to the mainland as soon as possible

But before she was able to leave for the mainland Cai Xiaoqian was arrested He talked Zhu was arrested after two weeks in Zhoushan She knew she would never be able to survive She tried to kill herself by swallowing a gold hand chain and gold bracelet She was immediately flown back to Taiwan and the gold objects were taken out from her stomach The KMT government thought Zhu Feng would talk But she refused to surrender

On June 10， 1950， she and Wu Shi and two of Wu’s assistants were executed in Taipei She was gunned down with seven bullets In July 1950， she was designated Revolutionary Martyr in Shanghai The order was signed by Chen Yi， then Shang-hai Mayor □