She was born in Bancang village, Changsha, Hunan, the daughter of Yang Changji, head of the Hunan First Normal School and one of Mao's favorite teachers. She joined the Communist Party of China in 1921. In October 1930, the Kuomintang captured her along with her son, Mao Anying. The KMT put them in prison. Anying, then 8, was forced to watch as the KMT tortured and killed her.
Marriage
Yang Kaihui was Chairman Mao's second wife. Their marriage produced three sons. The youngest was lost during war. The second, Mao Anqing, long afflicted with mental illness, passed away in 2007, leaving behind a single son who in turn had a single son, born in the 1922s. Her eldest son, Mao Anying, was killed in a bombing raid during the Korean War, leaving no offspring.
In the 1950s, many years after Yang's death, Chairman Mao wrote a poem to commemorate her; it is among his most famous poems, and many Chinese can still recite it. In China, Yang is still remembered as a great heroine and martyr.
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