Yang Bokai (Chinese: 杨伯恺; December 16, 1894 – December 8, 1949), courtesy name Daorong (Chinese: 道融), was a Chinese revolutionary, educator, journalist, and democratic activist. Born in Yingshan County in Sichuan, he studied in France as part of the Diligent Work–Frugal Study Movement in France and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1923.
After returning to China, he took part in revolutionary education, publishing, and political work, and helped establish early Communist organizations in his home region. During the Second Sino-Japanese War he engaged in united front activities and later became a leading journalist for the newspaper Huaxi Daily. In the 1940s he joined the China Democratic League and participated in democratic political movements. He was arrested by Kuomintang authorities in 1947 and was executed in Chengdu in December 1949 shortly before the Communist takeover of the city.
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Biography
Yang Bokai was born on December 16, 1894, in Huayuan Village, Xiaopeng Township, Luoshi Town, Yingshan County, Sichuan. His original name was Yang Xun (Chinese: 杨询) and his courtesy name was Daorong. He received his early education locally and later studied at a middle school in Shunqing (present-day Nanchong). He subsequently traveled to Beijing to attend a French-language preparatory program.
In 1919 Yang went to France through the work-study program that sent Chinese students to Europe, with assistance from Wu Yuzhang. During his time in Europe he became involved in revolutionary student organizations. In 1922 he joined the Chinese Communist Youth movement in Europe and in 1923 he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Yang returned to Shanghai in March 1925 and engaged in anti-imperialist and patriotic propaganda activities. Soon afterward he was assigned by the Communist Party to return to Sichuan, where he assisted Wu Yuzhang and others in establishing the Sino-French University in Chongqing. Yang served as director of academic affairs and was responsible for much of the institution's daily administration. In February 1926, when the Communist Party established the Chongqing Local Committee, Yang was appointed a member of its Education Committee.
Later that year Yang returned to his hometown in Yingshan County and organized the first local Communist Party branch there. On March 2, 1926, under his leadership the first county-level peasant association in Sichuan organized under Communist leadership was established in his home area. By 1927 a network of peasant associations had spread throughout the county, including one county association, twenty-two district associations, and sixty-four township associations, with membership numbering around ten thousand.
On March 31, 1927, Yang attended a mass anti-imperialist rally organized by the Chongqing Communist Party committee at Daqiangba. The gathering was violently suppressed by warlord forces in what later became known as the Chongqing March 31 Incident, during which more than a thousand people were killed or injured. Yang himself was wounded in the head during the attack. After the collapse of the First United Front later that year, he moved to Shanghai with several associates and founded the Xinken Bookstore, where they translated and published numerous theoretical works, including texts introducing Marxist philosophy. Yang also founded the magazine Twentieth Century, in which he published essays promoting Marxist ideas.
After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Yang returned to Sichuan and engaged in Second United Front activities among intellectuals and military leaders in the region. In 1940 he began writing editorials for Huaxi Daily (West China Daily), and in 1942 he was appointed chief editorial writer. Over the following years he published hundreds of articles advocating resistance against Japan and political reform. His sharp and uncompromising style attracted attention, and when friends suggested that he moderate his tone he reportedly replied that “writing is my weapon; if it is blunted, what use is it?” In May 1945 the newspaper was shut down by the Kuomintang authorities.
In 1944, Yang joined the China Democratic League and was elected a member of its Central Committee as well as head of propaganda for its Sichuan branch. In May 1946, the League established the newspaper Minzhong Daily in Chongqing with Zhang Lan as publisher, and Yang served as general manager and chief editorial writer. The newspaper strongly advocated the establishment of a democratic coalition government and criticized the policies of Chiang Kai-shek. It was forced to close after only two and a half months. Yang later organized the publication of periodicals such as Youth Forum and Era Writings, which reprinted commentaries from Xinhua News Agency and other progressive publications.
On June 2, 1947, the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics raided Yang's residence and arrested him. He was imprisoned in the Jiangjun Yamen prison in Chengdu, which served as a detention center for political prisoners. During his imprisonment he refused to cooperate with authorities. When prison officials attempted to force him to write a confession in exchange for release, Yang firmly refused, declaring that he would rather die than betray his beliefs.
On the night of December 7, 1949, shortly before the Communist forces captured Chengdu, Yang Bokai and more than thirty other political prisoners were executed by Nationalist agents outside Tonghui Gate near the Twelve Bridges area of the city. He was buried alive together with his fellow prisoners.
Family
Yang's daughter, Yang Jie, later became a prominent Chinese television director and is best known for directing the 1986 television adaptation of Journey to the West.