General Secretary Xi Jinping once said: "I read The Puritan Life written by the martyr Fang Zhimin in prison many times. It expresses the love and hate of the older generation of communists and exemplifies what real poverty and wealth are, what the greatest happiness in life is, what great belief revolutionaries have, and how to live a worthy life. Each time I read it, I felt inspired, enlightened and encouraged."

Fang Zhimin was a great proletarian revolutionist, military strategist, peasant movement leader and the founder of Northeast Jiangxi and Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi Revolutionary Base Areas during the Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927–1937). He was captured in a battle with the reactionary Kuomintang (KMT) forces when he ran out of ammunition. The KMT was the ruling party led by Chiang Kai-shek, president of China at the time. In the last 190 days of his life, Fang in captivity turned his love for the Communist Party of China (CPC), the motherland and the people into writings, leaving us an immortal legacy.

The Puritan Life: Short but great life

"They thought they had come upon a windfall and started a frantic body search, hoping to find on me 1,000 or so silver dollars, or some gold bracelets, rings, or anything else of that ilk. They frisked me from head to toe and passed their hands over everything on me, from the collar of my jacket to the soles of my socks, but other than a pocket watch and a fountain pen, they failed to find any cash, even a copper coin."

This passage was extracted from The Puritan Life, written by Fang in the detention center of the Military Justice Department of Nanchang Pacification Office in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, on May 26, 1935.

He documented in plain style the contemptible behavior of the enemies who repeatedly searched and hectored him.

"We do not join the revolution for personal gains!" Fang refuted their accusation and proclaimed loudly and proudly: "Stay honest though poor, keep integrity and stick with a simple lifestyle. That is how we revolutionaries overcome difficulties!"

"Honest though poor" is an accurate summary of Fang's life. On August 21, 1899, Fang was born into a poor peasant family in Hutang Village, Qigong Town, Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province. Life had been difficult for him since he was young. He entered an old-style private school at eight. Every day after school, he had to herd cattle, carry firewood and do a lot of farm work. But he was smart and studious, and the books he read in one year would take other children three years to finish reading. Excellent at both studying and calligraphy, he became well-known in the village at an early age. As a teenager capable of writing couplets, he once wrote, "In my heart are three favorites: fascinating books, fine horses and beautiful nature; in the garden grow four kinds of plants: green pines and bamboos, and pure plums and orchids." He motivated himself with these four kinds of plants, which are symbols of noble character in Chinese culture.

In the summer of 1919, after graduating from the higher primary school in Yiyang County, Fang was admitted to the Jiangxi Provincial Class A Industrial School with excellent grades. At school, he mobilized students to participate in progressive activities, among which he launched a famous movement to oust the corrupt principal Zhao Baohong and consequently was expelled from school. In September 1921, Fang enrolled in William Nast College in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, only to drop out later because of his family's financial straits.

In July 1922, Fang came to Shanghai, hoping to find a part-time job to continue his study. At that time, he made acquaintance with Zhao Xingnong (1899–1926) and other revolutionaries and joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League.

In March 1924, when Fang joined the CPC in Nanchang, he made a solemn pledge that he would devote everything to the Party, even his life.

Since then, Fang had actively disseminated the Party's theory among workers and peasants and carried out revolutionary activities. In the summer of 1925, Fang founded a peasant association back home in Hutang Village, Qigong Town, the first of its kind in northeast Jiangxi, and launched the struggle against despotic landowners to reduce rent and interest. Peasant movements were thus started in his hometown.