Yan Xishan
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, Nie, then sixteen years old, joined the Communist resistance in Shanxi, which was supported by warlord Yan Xishan. She received military training at the National Teachers' College in Taiyuan and joined the Communist Party in 1938. In the 1940s, Nie moved to the Communist base in Yan'an, where she met Kang Sheng and his wife .