Qian Zhuangfei

Qian Zhuangfei (Chinese: 钱壮飞; 1895/96 – 1935) was a Chinese doctor, film director and Communist secret agent. After the Kuomintang (KMT) 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.

Qian was born Qian Beiqiu (Chinese: 钱北秋) in 1895/1896 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. He also used the name Qian Chao (Chinese: 钱潮).

After graduating from Huzhou High School, he entered the National Peking Medical School (now Peking University Health Science Center) in 1914, and worked at a small Beijing hospital as well as his own practice after graduating in 1919. He married a fellow doctor named Zhang Zhenhua. He also taught anatomy in an art academy, and dabbled in filmmaking and radio transmission. The couple helped run a small film company, and Qian wrote and directed the film Invisible Swordsman in 1926, starring his wife and daughter Qian Zhenzhen (later known as Li Lili).

In 1925, Qian and his wife secretly joined the Communist Party of China, and used filmmaking and their medical practice as covers for their underground activities. Their best friend Hu Di also joined the party, and the three worked closely together. After the KMT's April 1927 massacre of the Communists in Shanghai, Qian and his wife moved to Kaifeng where they briefly worked for the warlord Feng Yuxiang, before going to Shanghai at the end of 1927.

...
Wikipedia