Jiang Qing - Early Life

Early Life

Jiang Qing was born in Zhucheng, Shandong Province on March 19, 1914. Her birth name was Lǐ Shūméng (李淑蒙). She was the only child of Li Dewen (李德文), a carpenter, and his subsidiary wife, or concubine. Her father ran his own carpentry and cabinet making shop. After Jiang's parents had a violent argument, her mother found work as a domestic servant (some accounts cite that Jiang's mother also worked as a prostitute) and separated from her husband.

When Jiang enrolled in elementary school, she took the name Lĭ Yúnhè (李云鹤), meaning "Crane in the Clouds", by which she was known for much of her early life. Other students did not view Jiang well due to her family background, and she and her mother moved in with her maternal grandparents when she went to attend middle school. In 1926, when she was 12 years old, her father died. Jiang's mother relocated them to Tianjin where she worked as a child laborer in a cigarette factory for several months. Two years later, Jiang and her mother settled to Jinan. The following summer, she entered an experimental theater and drama school. Her talent brought her to the attention of administrators who selected her to join a drama club in Beijing where she gained more acting skills. She returned to Jinan in May 1931 and married Pei Minglun, the wealthy son of a businessman. The marriage was an unhappy one and they soon divorced.

From July 1931 to April 1933, Jiang attended Qingdao University in Qingdao. She met Yu Qiwei, a biology student three years her senior, who was an underground member of the Communist Party Propaganda Department. By 1932, they had fallen in love and were living together. She joined the "Communist Cultural Front," a circle of artists, writers, and actors, and performed in Put Down Your Whip, a renowned popular play about a woman who escapes from the Japanese-occupied northeastern China and performs in the streets to survive. In February 1933, Jiang took the oath of the Chinese Communist Party with Yu at her side, and she was appointed member of the Chinese Communist Party youth wing. Yu was arrested in April the same year and Jiang subsequently shunned by his family. She fled to her parents' home in Shanghai and returned to the drama school in Jinan, where she was warmly received. Through friendships she had previously established, she received an introduction to attend Shanghai University for the summer where she also taught some general literacy classes. In October, she rejoined the Communist Youth League, and at the same time, began participating in an amateur drama troupe.

In September 1934, Jiang Qing was arrested and jailed for her political activities in Shanghai, but was released three months later, in December of the same year. She then traveled to Beijing where she reunited with Yu Qiwei who had just been released following his prison sentence, and the two began living together again.

Jiang Qing returned to Shanghai in March 1935, and became a professional actress, adopting the stage name "Lán Píng" (meaning "Blue Apple", Chinese: 蓝苹). She appeared in numerous films and plays, including God of Liberty, The Scenery of City, Blood on Wolf Mountain and Old Mr. Wang. In Ibsen's play A Doll's House, Jiang Qing played the role of Nora.

With her career established, she became involved with actor/director Tang Lun, with whom she appeared in Scenes of City Life and The Statue of Liberty. They were married in Hangzhou in March 1936, however he soon discovered she was continuing her relationship with Yu Qiwei. The scandal became public knowledge and he made two suicide attempts before their divorce became final. In 1937, Jiang joined the Lianhua Film Company and starred in the film Big Thunderstorm. She reportedly had an affair with director, Zhang Min, however she denied it in her autobiographical writings.