Li Min | |
|---|---|
 Li Min in 2010 | |
| Born | 1936 (age 89–90) |
| Other names | Mao Min |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Office | 10th National Congress of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, includingKong Dongmei |
| Parent(s) | Mao Zedong He Zizhen |
| Relatives | Mao family |
Li Min (Chinese:李敏;pinyin:Lǐ Mǐn; born 1936), original nameMao Jiaojiao (Chinese:毛姣姣;pinyin:Máo Jiāojiāo), is a former Chinese politician who was the daughter ofMao Zedong and his third wife,He Zizhen. Hersurname isLi rather thanMao, because Mao had changed his name to "Li Desheng" (simplified Chinese:李德胜;traditional Chinese:李德勝;pinyin:Lǐ Déshèng) for a period of time to prevent himself from being chased by theKuomintang army during theChinese Civil War.
The names of Li Min and her sisterLi Na come from Book 4 of theAnalects ofConfucius: "ne yu yan ermin yu xing" (讷于言而敏于行, meaningslow in speech andearnest in conduct).[1][2]
Li Min was born during the winter of 1936 inZhidan,Yan'an. She was initially namedMao Jiaojiao, afterDeng Yingchao, wife ofZhou Enlai, who came to congratulate Mao, saw Li and said affectionately: "What a little Jiao Jiao!". In 1937, He Zizhen traveled to theSoviet Union to treat a wound sustained earlier in battleand left Li Min in Yan'an.[3]
In January 1941 after theNew Fourth Army incident, Li Min at the age of 4, was sent to the Soviet Union to live with He Zizhen. In 1947, He Zizhen finally returned to China with Li Min and lived inHarbin. Later, Mao Zedong requested someone to bring Li Min back toBeijing. In the early summer of 1949, Li Min returned to Mao Zedong.
After the founding of People's Republic of China, Li Min entered Beijing Bayi School, and after graduation, entered the Girls' Middle School affiliated toBeijing Normal University. After graduating from high school, Li Min was admitted to theChemistry Department of Beijing Normal University in 1958.[4]
In 1964, Li Min and her husband Kong Linghua moved into an ordinary residence at Bingmasi Hutong in Beijing to begin a real civilian life.
In 1966, when theCultural Revolution began, Li Min and her husband were criticized by theRed Guards who were unaware of her relationship to Mao. They were ordered to confess and included in the list ofMay Sixteenth elements, untilLin Biao found out about this and protected her by having her return to Zhongnanhai, much to the shock of the Red Guards. Later when criticizing the "bourgeois reactionary line", they were criticized at the same time. In early 1968, Li Min and her comrades went to theWangsiying Commune in the suburbs of Beijing to participate in agricultural labor, and returned to theNational Defense Science and Technology Commission.[5]
On the evening of 25 October 1969, Li Min was taken to the "May 7th" labor farm inLianhua Lake,Suiping County in Henan Province along with officials of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, as part of Vice-Chairman Lin's Order Number 1. Officially, it was to protect the senior leadership from the Soviet Union in the wake of the Zhenbao Island incident but in reality, it was a covert attempt by Lin to protect them from Red Guards in Beijing by spreading them across the country. In early 1971, Li Min went to the cadre school of the Science and Technology Commission. On 13 September, after MarshalLin Biao's death in a plane crash, Li Min returned to Beijing from the cadre school.[6]
In December 1973, the Party Committee of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission officially made a redress decision for Li Min.
Li Min was a member of the 10th National Congress of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference.[7]
On 2006, on the eve of the 40th anniversary on the start of Cultural Revolution, Li Min and other Mao Zedong's family members went toNorth Korea to pay homage to her brotherMao Anying, who died during theKorean War.[8]
On 15 April 2015, on behalf ofPresident of RussiaVladimir Putin,Russian Ambassador to ChinaAndrey Denisov presented Li Min with theJubilee Medal "70 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945".
In 2018, rumors regarding Li Min's death in a presumed car accident in North Korea on 22 April, went viral in Chinese social networking siteSina Weibo. But on 24 May, Li Min attended the press conference of the new bookMy Uncle Zhou Enlai, held byZhou Bingde, Zhou Enlai's niece, at theGreat Hall of the People in Beijing, dispelling rumors of her supposed death.[9]
In 1959, while studying at Beijing Normal University, Li Min metKong Linghua (simplified Chinese:孔令华;traditional Chinese:孔令華;pinyin:Kǒng Lìnghuá). A top student ofBeijing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a classmate of Li Min, they were married in the same year.
They had one son,Kong Jining (simplified Chinese:孔继宁;traditional Chinese:孔繼寧;pinyin:Kǒng Jìníng) and one daughter,Kong Dongmei (simplified Chinese:孔东梅;traditional Chinese:孔東梅;pinyin:Kǒng Dōngméi). Kong Dongmei herself has 3 children and is said to be worth an estimated €620 million.[10]
In 1999, while returning from an event commemorating Mao Zedong inGuangzhou, Kong Linghua was involved in a car accident. He later died ofheart attack in a hospital, during an operation.[11]
