When a member of a group that had long since vanished concealed his identity and eventually became the China leader
The Nanjing underground party was a CPC intelligence organization set up in Nanjing, the KMT capital. Its members infiltrated the Japanese puppet regime and the KMT government to gather intelligence. During the Mao era, they suffered unfair treatment, and Deng Xiaoping did not rehabilitate them. In 1998, after Deng’s death, China leader Jiang Zemin suddenly told the Jiangsu and Nanjing governments that he had always been a member of the Nanjing underground party and demanded the rehabilitation of all its members. This incident is known as the “Li Enyu Incident".
Li Enyu (厉恩虞) was Jiang Zemin’s senior schoolmate at university during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing and guide Jiang into communism. He recruited Jiang Zemin to become a Communist spy. Jiang Zemin belonged to the Nanjing underground party, but he operated undercover in a KMT military logistics factory in Shanghai until the People’s Liberation Army liberated the city. As a result, his belonged to the Nanjing underground party went unnoticed for a long time. Like other members of the Nanjing underground party, Li Enyu was persecuted under Mao and died in 1978, still labeled as a “KMT agent” even after his death. After Deng Xiaoping came to power, he did not restore the reputations of the Nanjing underground party members. In 1998, following Deng’s death, the China leader Jiang Zemin suddenly informed the Jiangsu and Nanjing governments that he had long been a member of the Nanjing underground party. He demanded the rehabilitation of Li Enyu and all other Nanjing underground party members. At the same time, Jiang Zemin published an article titled “In Memory of Comrade Li Enyu” (《忆厉恩虞同志》). As a result, the Nanjing underground party was finally rehabilitated, and China began producing numerous films and television works praising underground agent. #history