Xiang Jingyu, born on this day in 1895, was one of the earliest female members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a pioneer of the women's movement of China. She was executed by Guomindang police on May 1st, 1928.

Xiang Jingyu was politically radicalized when she attended the Montargis Women's University in France. While studying there, Jingyu read many of Marx's works and became a communist.

In 1923, Xiang became editor of a weekly supplement to The Republican Daily, a Guomindang newspaper. The same year Xiang Jingyu was also elected as a Central Committee member and became the first secretary of the "Women's Movement Committee".

In 1924, Xiang led a strike involving about ten thousand female workers from silk factories. Then, she founded the "Committee of Women's Liberation" and trained many female cadres, who then became a force against feudalism and imperialism.

Xiang Jingyu was arrested in the French Concession Sandeli in Wuhan on March 20th, 1928. French officials turned her over to the Guomindang in April. On May 1st, 1928 she was executed.