Chen Duxiu

Chen Duxiu (; 8 October 187927 May 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary socialist, educator, philosopher and author, who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with Li Dazhao in 1921. From 1921 to 1927, he served as the Communist Party's first general secretary. Chen was a leading figure in both the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty and the May Fourth Movement for scientific and democratic developments in the early Republic of China. After his expulsion from the CCP in 1929, Chen was for a time the leader of China's Trotskyist movement. Chen's ancestral home was in Anqing, Anhui, where he established the influential vernacular Chinese periodical New Youth. In order to support overthrowing the Qing government, Chen Duxiu had joined Yue Fei Loyalist Society which emerged from Gelaohui in Anhui and Hunan province. Biography Life in the Qing dynasty Chen Duxiu was born on 8 October 1879 in the city of Anqing, in the Anhui province of the Qing Empire. He was the youngest of four children born to a wealthy family of officials. In his youth, he was described as volatile, emotional, intuitive, non-intellectual, and a defender of the underdog. His father died when Chen was two years old, and he was raised primarily by his grandfather; and, later, by his older brother.