page_title: Qian Zhuangfei
section_title: Secret agent
hierarchical_section_title: Qian Zhuangfei / Secret agent
caption_attribution_description: English: Communist Chinese spy Qian Zhuangfei
context_page_description: Qian Zhuangfei was a Chinese doctor, film director and Communist secret agent. After the Kuomintang began its suppression of the Communists in 1927, Qian infiltrated the KMT secret service, and in 1931 intercepted a telegram reporting the arrest and defection of the Communist leader Gu Shunzhang. His quick reaction allowed the Communist leadership in Shanghai to evacuate, and he was credited with saving the lives of top leaders including Zhou Enlai, later the Premier of China. Zhou called Qian and his fellow agents Li Kenong and Hu Di "the three most distinguished intelligence workers of the Party." Qian was killed in 1935 during the Long March. He was the father of Li Lili, one of China's most popular film stars in the 1930s.
context_section_description: In 1929, the Communist leader Zhou Enlai asked Qian to join a wireless radio training class in Shanghai. The class was run by Xu Enzeng, the head of the KMT's Investigation Department, to recruit special agents for the department. Qian excelled in the class, and gained the trust of Xu, a fellow Huzhou native. Xu made him his "confidential secretary" and the chief coordinator of the central intelligence headquarters in Nanjing, in charge of recruiting more special agents. This created opportunities for Qian's fellow Communist agents, most notably Hu Di and Li Kenong, to join the KMT secret service as moles. Their intelligence reports helped the Communist Red Army in Jiangxi thwart the first two of Chiang Kai-shek's Encirclement Campaigns.
  On 24 April 1931, Gu Shunzhang, Zhou Enlai's security chief and head of the Communist Party's dreaded Red Brigade, was arrested in Wuhan while on a mission to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek. To save himself, Gu defected to the KMT, and disclosed his extensive knowledge about Communist organizations. Qian intercepted a telegram sent by the Wuhan police to the Nanjing headquarters, and immediately recognized the severity of the situation. He sent his son-in-law Liu Qifu on an express train to Shanghai to deliver the information to Li Kenong, who in turned informed Zhou Enlai and intelligence chief Chen Geng about Gu's arrest. The top party leaders, including Zhou, Li Weihan, Kang Sheng, and Qu Qiubai, were able to evacuate, but many party members could not be warned in time and were arrested and executed, including 40 high-ranking and 800 ordinary members. It was the largest loss to the Communists since the 1927 massacre. Qian's cover was blown and he escaped just before the order of his arrest arrived.
  Qian Zhuangfei, together with Chen Geng, Li Kenong, and Hu Di, was transferred to the Jiangxi Soviet Communist base, where Li and Qian controlled the security forces. Qian was also in charge of decoding the telegrams of the encircling KMT forces.
caption: Qian Zhuangfei
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