Lei Feng

Léi Fēng 雷锋
Lei Feng, Chinese propaganda poster by Qiu Wei (丘玮). Caption reads: "Follow Lei Feng's example; love the Party, love Socialism, love the people".
Born	(1940-12-18)18 December 1940 Wangcheng, Hunan, China
Died	15 August 1962(1962-08-15) (aged 21) Anshan, Liaoning, China
Cause of death	Work accident
Residence	Anshan and Fushun, Liaoning, China
Nationality	Chinese
Occupation	Soldier

Léi Fēng (18 December 1940 – 15 August 1962) was a soldier in the People's Liberation Army and is a communist legend in China. After his death, Lei was characterized as a selfless and modest person devoted to the Communist Party, Mao Zedong, and the people of China. In 1963, he became the subject of a nationwide posthumous propaganda campaign, "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng." Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao. After Mao's death, Lei Feng remained a cultural icon representing earnestness and service. His name entered daily speech and his imagery appeared on T-shirts and memorabilia.

Although someone named Lei Feng probably existed, the accounts of his life as depicted by Party propaganda are heavily disputed, leading him to become a source of cynicism and subject of derision among segments of the Chinese population. Nevertheless, Lei's image as a role model serviceman has survived decades of political change in China.

Born in Wangcheng (near the town of Leifeng, Changsha, Hunan, named in his honour), Lei was orphaned at a young age. According to CNTV, Lei lost all of his family prior to the establishment of the People's Republic. His father died when he was just five (killed by the invading Japanese Army), his elder brother, who was exploited as a child labourer, died a year later, and his younger brother passed soon afterwards. Finally, his mother committed suicide after being "dishonored by a landlord."

He became a member in the Communist youth corps when he was young and joined a transportation unit of the People's Liberation Army at the age of twenty. According to his official biography, Lei died in 1962 at the age of 21 (22 by East Asian age reckoning, by which a newborn is one year old at birth), when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him as he was directing the truck in backing up.

Lei Feng was not widely known until after his death. In 1963, Lei Feng's Diary was first presented to the public by Lin Biao in the first of many "Learn from Lei Feng" propaganda campaigns. The diary was full of accounts of Lei's admiration for Mao Zedong, his selfless deeds, and his desire to foment revolutionary spirit. Lin's use of Lei's diary was part of a larger effort to improve Mao's image, which had suffered after the Great Leap Forward. Scholars generally believe that the diary was forged by Party propagandists under Lin's direction.