On this day in 1928, Xiang Jingyu, an early feminist pioneer and revolutionary in the Communist Party of China, was arrested by French officials and turned over to the Nationalist government, which executed her on May 1st that year.

Xiang Jingyu (1895 - 1928) 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 Jingyu was elected as a Central Committee member and became the first secretary of the "Women's Movement Committee".

In 1924, she led a strike involving about 10,000 female workers from silk factories and later founded the "Committee of Women's Liberation", which trained many female cadres to oppose feudalism and imperialism.

On March 20th, 1928, Xiang Jingyu was arrested in the French Concession Sandeli in Wuhan, possibly due to the betrayal of members of her group to the police. The French officials turned her over to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in April. On May 1st, 1928, Xiang Jingyu was executed by Guomindang police. After her death, she became a martyr for the communist revolution in China.