{{Short description|Chinese poet and CPC activist (1900–1928)}} {{Infobox person |name=Xia Minghan |image=Xia Minghan.jpg |caption= }} {{family name hatnote|[[Xia (surname)|Xia]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Xia Minghan''' ({{zh|c=夏明翰}}; 1900 – 30 March 1928) was an early leader of the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]], revolution martyr, and a pioneer of [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). He was arrested and executed by the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) in 1928.
==Early life== Xia was born in 1900, in [[Zigui County]], [[Hubei]] Province to Xia Shaofan (夏绍范) and Lu Yunfeng (陆云凤). He was born in a well-educated family, and his family had been government officials for generations. His father was an officer, but died when Xia was young.<ref name="xinhua">{{cite web | url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2003-01/17/content_693830.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031206163641/http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2003-01/17/content_693830.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 6, 2003 | title=Xia Minghan | publisher=[[Xinhua News Agency]] | access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref> Xia joined in founding Xiangnan Student Union and served as the chief secretary, leading a student movement against feudalism and imperialism. In 1920, Xia led the Xiangnan Student Union to fight against General Zhang Jingyao. Xia was a pioneer of the Chinese Communist Party. He studied at the [[Hunan Self-Study University]] founded by Mao Zedong.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Song |first=Kexiang |date=2021-02-06 |title=为党早期培养大量革命人才的湖南自修大学 |trans-title=Hunan Self-Study University, which trained a large number of revolutionary talents for the party in the early days |url=http://dangshi.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0205/c85037-32023425.html |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=[[People's Daily]] |publisher=}}</ref> In 1922, Xia was in charge of the Hunan Student Union, leading a strike of rickshaw drivers and a boycott of Japanese products. Xia participated in many other movements such as the Autumn Harvest Uprising. At the beginning of 1928, Xia was sent to work in Hubei as the commissioner of the CCP Hubei District Committee. On March 18, he was betrayed and arrested by the [[Kuomintang]] in Wuhan. He was executed two days later.<ref name="heng">{{cite web | url=http://eng.hengyang.gov.cn/showdetail.aspx?typeid=1&borderid=14&newsid=1586 | title=Celebrities in Hengyang | publisher=Hengyang Municipal People's Government | access-date=April 20, 2011 | archive-date=December 19, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219084329/http://eng.hengyang.gov.cn/showdetail.aspx?typeid=1&borderid=14&newsid=1586 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Xia Minghan and Mao Zedong== In 1917, Xia attended the Third Provincial Public Industrial School in [[Hunan]] province.<ref name="heng"/> With the help of [[He Suheng]], he went to [[Changsha]], and became a student of [[Mao Zedong]] in 1920. He was inducted into the CCP by Mao Zedong and He Shuheng In 1921.<ref name="heng" /><ref name="Ip">{{cite book | last=Ip | first=Hung-Yok | title=Intellectuals in revolutionary China, 1921-1949: leaders, heroes and sophisticates | publisher=RoutledgeCurzon | location=New York | year=2005 | page=298 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHYWRZFclpMC | access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref> In 1927, he was Mao's secretary.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
==Revolutionary movement== Xia became a committeeman of the Hunan Branch of the CCP in 1924. In 1927, Xia was made a member of the newly formed Hunan Provincial Committee along with Mao Zedong. The committee's two main purposes were to decide who should own land and how the [[Autumn Harvest Uprising]] should take place, if at all. The committee met in August 1927. Xia's view on land ownership was that "all land must be confiscated and placed under state control." Xia thought the uprising should take place, but with the military and peasants.<ref>{{cite book | last=Saich | first=Tony | title=The Rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party |publisher=M. E. Sharpe Inc | location=New York | year=1996 | pages=323–324 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40VJugPCFzkC | access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref> In the beginning of 1928, Xia was transferred to [[Hubei]] to be the commissioner of the CCP Hubei District Committee.<ref name="heng"/> On 28 March 1928, he was arrested by the Kuomintang in [[Wuhan]]. He was killed by the KMT two days later.<ref name="xinhua" />
==Death == [[File:Xia Minghan and his wife.jpg|thumb|upright|Xia Minghan and wife Zheng Jiajun]] Early in 1928, Xia Minghan was transferred to Hubei Province, as a member of Hubei Provincial Committee of CCP, and worked with Guo Liang, the newly appointed secretary of Hubei Provincial Committee. Betrayed by a traitor, on March 18, Xia Minghan was arrested in Wuhan. Two days later, in the morning of March 20, he was escorted to the Wuhan-Yuji execution ground. He was survived by his wife, Zheng Jiajun ({{lang|zh-hans|郑家钧}}) and his daughter, Xia Yun ({{lang|zh-hans|夏芸}}).{{cn|date=August 2024}}
Before his execution, he wrote his last poem: {{lang|zh-hans|砍头不要紧，只要主义真，杀了夏明翰，还有后来人。}} Translation:
Beheading is nothing to me,
A true communist who'd be.
Though you kill Xia Minghan today,
Numerous will follow my way.
==Legacy== On 10 September 2009, he was voted to be one of the 100 heroes who made significant contribution to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2009-09/11/content_12033141.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011082932/http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2009-09/11/content_12033141.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 11, 2009 | title=National Hundred People | publisher=Xinhua News Agency | access-date=April 17, 2011}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xia, Minghan}} [[Category:1900 births]] [[Category:1928 deaths]] [[Category:Chinese communists]] [[Category:Communist poets]] [[Category:20th-century Chinese poets]]