Ma Xulun

Ma Xulun (April 27, 1885 to May 4, 1970), styled himself Yichu, a native of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, is one of the principal founders of China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD).

Before the Revolution of 1911, he joined the South Society organized by Liu Yazi and others under the influence of the revolutionary activities conducted by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. In the summer of 1911, he went to Japan and joined the Tong Meng Hui (Chinese Revolutionary League) on the recommendation of Zhang Taiyan. Shortly after he returned home, the Wuchang Uprising broke out. He participated in preparing to organize civil corps in Zhejiang Province and was ready to respond. He was invited to serve as secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Governor's Office. Later he ran the Great Republic Daily in Shanghai and served as its chief editor. In 1913 he came to Beijing and taught in Beijing Medical School and Peking University. During the May 4th Movement of 1919, he supported the students' patriotic movement and served as secretary and chairman of Peking University Teaching and Administrative Staff's Federation and Beijing Secondary School and College Teaching and Administrative Staff's Federation. In 1921 he participated in initiating and leading the movement to claim salaries from the military government, which was launched by teachers from primary and secondary schools and universities in Beijing. On June 3 he went to the president's office and was cruelly beaten and wounded. He returned to Hangzhou City and served as principal of Zhejiang No. 1 Normal School and head of Zhejiang Education Department. After the Beijing government was reshuffled, he served as vice-minister of education twice and took charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Education. During the anti-Japanese war, he suffered from poverty and illness and lived in seclusion in Shanghai. He was renamed Zou Huasun and devoted himself to writing. After the victory in the anti-Japanese war, he took an active part in the patriotic democratic movement. In December 1945 he initiated and established China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) together with some progressive intellectuals and patriotic democrats from the cultural, industrial and commercial circles in Shanghai and became its principal leader. In May of the next year, Shanghai Mass Organization Federation was established, and he was elected executive member. On June 23 he headed Shanghai people's peace petition delegation to go to Nanjing to appeal for peace. He was assaulted by the Kuomintang secret agents and mobs at Nanjing Xiaguan Station and seriously wounded. This was the Xiaguan Massacre. In the winter of 1947 he left Shanghai for Hong Kong owing to the serious white terror. Later he went to the Northeast Liberated Area. In February 1949 he came to Beiping and participated in preparing for and attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

After the founding of new China, he served as member of the Central People's Government Council, vice-chairman of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council, Minister of Education, Minister of Higher Education, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Committee for Reforming the Chinese Written Language of China and chairman of the All-China Sports Federation. He was member of the Standing Committee of the First and Second National People's Congress (NPC), member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the First to Third Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Fourth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was executive member of the first and second committees of the CAPD, Chairman of its Third Central Committee and Chairman of its Fourth and Fifth Central Committees. He was Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee of China Democratic League.

He is a renowned philologist and calligrapher. He wrote many books. Commentary to the Six Categories of Chinese Characters in An Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters has 2.4 million Chinese characters in 30 volumes. It enjoys a prominent position in China's philological research.

 Zhou Jianren

Zhou Jianren (November 12, 1888 to July 29, 1984), styled himself Qiaofeng, a native of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, Mr. Lu Xun's younger brother, is a renowned social activist, biologist and one of the principal founders of China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD).

In his youth, he was engaged in education and teaching in his hometown and taught himself botany. After he moved to Beijing in 1919, he studied philosophy and was engaged in translation and research in natural sciences in Peking University. In 1920 he organized the Society for the Study of the Problems Concerning Women together with Hu Yuzhi and others, published the Declaration on Research in the Problems Concerning Women, explained the relations between women's efforts to strive for political and economic freedoms and their efforts to fight for independence and liberation. This was a famous article on the women's movement during the May 4th Movement of 1919. In October 1921 he served as editor of Shanghai Commercial Press, and he had worked there for 23 years. He worked together with Shen Yanbing, Yang Xianjiang and others, the Communists at the early stage of the founding of the CPC, and he, Qu Qiubai and Yang Zhihua became intimate friends. He taught the theory of evolution, publicized the women's liberation and disseminated progressive ideas in Shanghai University, Shenzhou Women's School, Ji'nan University and Songjiang Jingxian Women's Secondary School. During the January 28th Incident of 1932 the Commercial Press was destroyed by gunfire, and he went to Anhui University to teach biology. At the end of the same year, he joined China League for Civil Rights initiated and organized by Soong Ching Ling, Cai Yuanpei, Lu Xun and others, was elected the investigator, investigated and exposed the crime of the persecution of political prisoners perpetrated by the Kuomintang and rescued the arrested revolutionaries. During the anti-Japanese war, he and some patriotic intellectuals secretly organized the Marxist Study Society and persistently conducted the activities of resistance against Japan and national salvation. After the victory in the anti-Japanese war, he threw himself into the patriotic democratic movement, often published articles in newspapers and attacked the Kuomintang's reactionary policies of civil war, dictatorship and national betrayal. In December 1945 he, Ma Xulun, Wang Shao'ao and others jointly initiated and established China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD) and was elected member of its first committee. In May 1946 he was elected member of Shanghai Mass Organization Federation. Owing to the serious white terror, in 1948 he resolutely joined the Communist Party of China. In the winter of the same year, he secretly left Shanghai for the North China Liberated Area. After Beiping was liberated, he participated in preparing for and attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

After the founding of new China, he served as Deputy Administrator of the Press and Publication Administration of the Central People's Government, Vice-Chairman of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, Vice-Minister of Higher Education, Governor of Zhejiang Province, etc. He was member of the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh CPC Central Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the First and Second NPC and Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Third, Fourth and Fifth NPC. He was member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Second, Third and Fourth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Fifth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He was member of the first and second committees of the CAPD, executive member of the Third Central Committee and head of the Department of Culture and Education and Vice-Chairman of the Fourth and Fifth Central Committee of the CAPD. In July 1966 he served as Acting Chairman of the CAPD. In 1950 he joined China Democratic League. He served as member of the Central Committee of China Democratic League and member of the Standing Committee of its Central Committee.

 Ye Shengtao

Ye Shengtao (October 28, 1894 to February 16, 1988), styled himself Shaojun, a native of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, is a renowned writer, educationist, publisher and social activist. In 1962 he joined China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). He served as Vice-Chairman, Chairman and Honorary Chairman of the CAPD.

After he graduated from the secondary school in 1912, he began to act as a primary school teacher and was engaged in literary creation because his family was in straitened circumstances. Before the May 4th Movement of 1919, he joined the New Wave Society supported by Li Dazhao and Lu Xun. In 1921 he, Shen Yanbing and Zheng Zhenduo initiated and organized the Literary Research Association and advocated the literary view of "for life". In 1922 he, Zhu Ziqing, Yu Pingbo, Liu Yanling and others founded the first poetic publication, Poetry in China's new literary circles. He published the first collection of children's stories - Scarecrow, the collections of novels - Estrangement and Fire, etc. in the country. In 1923 he served as an editor in the Chinese Language Department of the Commercial Press. After the May 30th Massacre took place, he wrote a famous article entitled In the Tempest of May 31 and advocated publishing Truth Daily. After the April 12th Incident, he was chief editor of Novel Monthly, first condemned the reactionary massacre and published the short story entitled Night. In 1928 he wrote the famous novel entitled Ni Huanzhi. In 1931 he acted as chief editor of Secondary School Student Magazine in the Kaiming Bookstore. After the September 18th Incident, he participated in initiating and establishing the Anti-imperialist and Anti-Japanese Great Alliance of Literary and Art Circles. After resistance against Japan broke out in January 28, 1932, he issued the Anti-Japanese Declaration and the Message to the People of the World with patriots from the cultural circles in Shanghai. During the anti-Japanese war, he went to Sichuan with his entire family. He first taught in the secondary school and the university and then continued to serve as an editor in the Kaiming Bookstore. After the victory in the anti-Japanese war, he returned to Shanghai, took an active part in the patriotic democratic movement and served as the general affairs chief of the All-China Association of the Literary and Art Circles and the adviser to Shanghai Primary School Teachers United Advanced Studies Society and Shanghai Secondary Education Research Association. At the invitation of the CPC Central Committee, in 1949 he came to Beiping which had been liberated and served as director of the Textbook Editorial Board of North China People's Government. In June he attended the preparatory meeting of the new Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In July he attended the first representative conference of the literary and art circles and was elected member of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. In September he attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

After the founding of new China, he served as Deputy Administrator of the Press and Publication Administration of the Central People's Government, Vice-Minister of Education, director and chief editor of the People's Education Press, adviser to the Ministry of Education, director of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, member of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, adviser to the Chinese Writers' Association, etc. He was deputy to the First to Fourth National People's Congress, member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress, member of the National Committee of the First Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Fifth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Sixth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

His major works which are reprinted after liberation and newly published include Collected Works of Ye Shengtao, Selections of Short Stories by Ye Shengtao, Ni Huanzhi, First Collection of Prose by Ye Shengtao, Collection of Essays on Chinese Language Education by Ye Shengtao, Collection of Prefaces and Postscripts by Ye Shengtao, etc.

 Lei Jieqiong

Lei Jieqiong, female, born in September 1905, a native of Taishan County, Guangdong Province, is a renowned sociologist, jurist, educationist and social activist and one of the principal founders of China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD).

In 1931 she took the Master's Degree in Sociology in the University of Southern California, obtained the best academic record award for the Chinese student and became honorary member of the American Sociology Society. In the same year she returned home and taught in the Sociology Department of Yanjing University. After the September 18th Incident, she took an active part in resistance against Japan and national salvation. After 1940, she served as professor of Zhongzheng University, the Sociology Departments of Dongwu University and Yanjing University and guest professor of Hujiang University, St. John's University and the Zhendan Women's College of Science and Humanities. As a representative of Shanghai People's Peace Petition Delegation, on June 23, 1946, she went to Nanjing to petition the national government. She was assaulted by the Kuomintang secret agents and mobs at Xiaguan Station and seriously wounded. In September 1949 she became member of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council.

After the founding of new China, she taught in Yanjing University and served as professor and deputy dean of Beijing Institute of Political Science and Law, professor of Peking University and deputy director of the Foreign Experts Affairs Bureau of the State Council. In December 1979 she served as Vice-Mayor of Beijing. She was deputy to the First, Second and Third National People's Congress (NPC), member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth NPC and vice-chairwoman of its Law Committee, Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the Seventh and Eighth NPC, member of the Hong Kong and Macao Basic Law Drafting Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Fifth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice-Chairwoman of the National Committee of the Sixth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairwoman of All-China Women's Federation, vice-chairwoman of the Chinese Association for International Understanding and vice-chairwoman of China Sociology Society. She was alternate member of the First CAPD Central Committee, member of the Third CAPD Central Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the Fourth and Fifth CAPD Central Committees, Vice-Chairwoman of the Sixth CAPD Central Committee, Chairwoman of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth CAPD Central Committees and Honorary Chairwoman of the Tenth and Eleventh CAPD Central Committees. She was chairwoman of Beijing Municipal CAPD Committee.

From 1988 to 1996, she met with heads of state, heads of government, high-ranking government officials and personalities of various circles from 84 countries and regions in her capacity as Vice-Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), Chairwoman of the CAPD Central Committee and Honorary Chairwoman of the Chinese Association for International Understanding on 346 occasions. So far, she has done her utmost to make great contributions to the development of China's culture, education and spiritual civilization, the peaceful reunification of the motherland according to the principle of "one country, two systems" and other undertakings.

Her major works include Several Opinions about Sociology,  Sociology and Civil Affairs Work, Problems Concerning China's Marriage and Family, Sociology and Social Reform, Changes in the System of Marriage and Family since the Founding of New China, New Changes in Marriage and Family in China's Rural Areas since the Reform, Collected Works of Lei Jieqiong, Research in the Status of Women in Rural Areas, Women's Problems and Women's Movement in Modern Times, Aging Problem and Its Influence on Social Development, etc. She wrote a few dissertations.

 Xu Jialu

Xu Jialu, male, Han nationality, born in June 1937, a native of Huai'an City, is member of China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). In 1959 he began to work. He graduated from the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University. He is an undergraduate and professor.

He is Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC), Chairman of the Eleventh CAPD Central Committee, president and doctoral supervisor of the College of the Chinese Language and Culture of Beijing Normal University, vice-chairman of China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification, chairman of China Great Wall Society, chairman of the Chinese Yanhuang Culture Research Association, guest professor of Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, East China Normal University, National Defense University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other universities and honorary doctor of Hong Kong Baptist University.

In May 1987 he joined China Association for Promoting Democracy (CAPD). From 1987 to 1994, he was member of the CAPD Central Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the CAPD Central Committee, vice-chairman of Beijing municipal CAPD committee and Vice-Chairman of the CAPD Central Committee. From 1994 to 1997, he was Vice-Chairman of the CAPD Central Committee. From 1997 to 2002, he was Chairman of the CAPD Central Committee. At the first meeting of the Eleventh CAPD Central Committee held in 2002, he was re-elected Chairman of the CAPD Central Committee.

From 1954 to 1959, he studied in the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University. From 1959 to 1986, he served as assistant, lecturer, associate professor and professor of the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University, deputy director and director of the teaching and research section and dean of the Chinese Department. From 1987 to 1994, he was vice-president of Beijing Normal University, vice-chairman of Beijing municipal CPPCC committee, deputy to the NPC and member of the Standing Committee of the NPC and member of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the NPC. From 1994 to 1998, he served as chairman of the State Language Work Committee. From 1998 to 2003, he was Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC. At the first meeting of the Tenth NPC held in March 2003, he was re-elected Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC.

He has been engaged in teaching and research in the exegesis science,  An Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters science, the ancient culture science, the Chinese information processing, etc. for a long time. He published nine academic works and a few dissertations and edited a few academic works and dictionaries. He took charge of the accomplishment of some large cultural projects including Thirteen Classics of Confucianism in Both Classical and Vernacular Chinese, Collected Works of Philosophers during the Period from pre-Qin times to the early years of the Han Dynasty in Both Classical and Vernacular Chinese, Full Interpretation of Twenty-four Histories and the state 863 project - Basic Research in the Chinese Information Processing. At present, he takes charge of the follow-up project - the Chinese Information Processing and the compilation and publication of Modern Annotation of the Twenty-four Histories. In 1986 he was chosen as the young and middle-aged scientist who has made outstanding contributions and enjoyed the government's special allowance.