The female Communist spy, Anna Shen, whose real name was Shen Wan, was born in Taixing, Jiangsu, in 1915 and died in Beijing on June 16, 2010, at the age of 95.
During the critical period of the Chinese Communist Party’s civil war, she became the first stenographer of the Nationalist Government. She served as the Kuomintang (KMT)’s core decision-making stenographer for fourteen years until 1949. She recorded and organized all significant decisions, which were quickly passed on to Mao Zedong. Before the senior generals of the KMT’s combat troops received the order, Mao had already seen Chiang Kai-shek’s instructions. “Knowing yourself and knowing the enemy, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.” With such a well-informed insider, it would be strange if the KMT government did not lose.
A female spy who helped the CCP rise to power in China
In 1932, at age 17, Anna Shen enrolled in Shanghai Nanyang Commercial High School. Here, she frequently contacted Hua Mingzhi, a CCP member and spy working in secret intelligence in the CCP’s Special Operations Department. Under Hua’s mobilization, Anna Shen also became a CCP intelligence officer.
In 1934, the Central Special Branch of the Communist Party received word that the Kuomintang Zhejiang Provincial Government would be recruiting a stenographer. For the Communist Party, this was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. The Central Special Branch leader instructed Anna Shen to attend a Chinese shorthand school and insisted that she achieve excellent grades.
To fulfil her role in collecting intelligence for the Communist Party, Anna Shen worked hard to improve her professional level. With her excellent shorthand skills (shorthand speed of 200 words per minute), she soon gained a foothold when she was admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Government as a stenographer. Initially, she worked under Zhu Jiahua, chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Government. His appreciation of Anna Shen’s skills led him to arrange for her to join the Kuomintang. Later, Zhu was promoted to secretary of the Kuomintang Central Party Department, and as such, Anna Shen became the stenographer in the Secretariat office. Here she had total access to the secrets of Chiang Kai-shek and other high-level officials.
Decades later, Anna Shen recalled: “At 19, I provided intelligence to the party organization for the first time and didn’t know what intelligence was important. I paid special attention to the secret military report of the chief of security, Xuan Tiewu.”
Later, Anna Shen began writing Xuan Tiewu’s report, which included the Kuomintang’s plan, weapons and equipment, accessories for highway bunkers, charts, and other important information, on the back of letter paper with special chemical, and then disguised it by writing a general family letter on the front. However, this method proved unsafe, so Hua Mingzhi was sent to Hangzhou to collect the intelligence information.
Hua Mingzh and Anna Shen sometimes met in teahouses or at West Lake dressed as lovers. In 1935, to facilitate their work, they married in Shanghai under the arrangement of the underground CCP organization. Anna Shen was 20 at the time. Since their marriage in 1935, the transmission of intelligence has become very timely. Hua could send the intelligence she obtained on the same day to the contact person of the Shanghai underground Party organization.
In the winter of 1936, Zhu Jiahua became chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Government of the Nationalist Government. Anna Shen took advantage of her job and quickly gained Zhu’s trust. The relocation of the Nationalist Government to Chongqing allowed her to get close to Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling and receive their military strategies in person.
In her 14-year career as a spy, she spent 11 years with Chiang Kai-shek. During this period, Zhu Jiahua, Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Meiling, and others didn’t suspect this obedient, unassuming young girl and her secret double life. She handed over the core secrets of the Kuomintang Central Committee to Hua on the same day and then sent them to Mao Zedong, who was in Yan’an at the time. The CCP has always boasted that Mao Zedong was a military genius, but they had placed a hidden spy next to Chairman Chiang.
In April 1938, Zhu Jiahua was elected secretary-general of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, chairman of the Party Affairs Committee, and director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics.
Dong Biwu of the CCP told Anna Shen: “Zhu Jiahua is now the secretary general of the Kuomintang Central Party Department. You can ask him to arrange for you to work there so you can continue to collect intelligence for the Party.”
The next day, Anna Shen sought out Zhu Jiahua and said: “I came to Wuhan facing great difficulty! Can you help me arrange a job so that I can serve the party and country?” Zhu was pleased to hear this and said the Central Party Department needed a stenographer.
In August 1938, the Secret Service office discovered that Anna Shen was an old subordinate arranged by Zhu himself, which earned their complete trust. As soon as she reported for duty, she was assigned to serve as a stenographer of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang.
On January 21, 1939, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang was held in Chongqing. The host was Chiang Kai-shek, and Anna Shen sat at the stenographer’s seat. This was the first time she met Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek and all the important officials of the Kuomintang present never dreamed that Miss Shen, immersed in taking notes, was a CCP intelligence officer. What chance did the Kuomintang have in defeating the CCP then?
During this Fifth Plenary Session, when Chiang Kai-shek reported at the conference, Anna Shen sat only a few meters away and took shorthand notes. At this military meeting, she was privy to two important Kuomintang documents: “Measures to Restrict the Activities of the Communist Party” and “Measures for Dealing with the Communist Party.” She quickly transferred the documents to Zhou Enlai, so the Communist Party obtained the original documents before the Central Party Committee had even distributed them to the Kuomintang.
In the autumn of 1939, Bo Gu, the head of the Organization Department of the Southern Bureau, decided to accept Anna Shen into the Party. Without any ceremony, Shen joined the Communist Party of China.
In 1942, Xu Zhonghang, who was sent by the Southern Bureau of the Communist Party of China to lead Anna Shen and Hua Mingzhi, was arrested. This led to the two losing contact with the Communist Party of China. Anna Shen recalled: “That was the most difficult period of my life. I had to destroy the intelligence I gained daily because no one came to collect it.”
The shameful profession of spying
Being a spy is considered the most shameful profession in the human race. They always hide in dark corners and cannot be upright as human beings. The same applies to Anna Shen. Since she entered the CCP’s spy organization at 17, she operated like “clockwork” and had become accustomed to playing such a role.
In May 1943, Anna Shen was assigned to take shorthand notes for Soong Meiling’s speeches. She paid attention to Meiling’s attention to detail and her appearance. To gain her trust, she would dress in her best outfit. After taking shorthand notes, she would carefully translate the shorthand symbols into words and transcribe them neatly. She also put a lot of thought into adding calligraphy titles on the cover, which greatly satisfied Meiling.
During the 1945 negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, Anna Shen reported the KMT’s secret negotiation strategies daily to the CPC Central Committee delegation. This enabled Zhou Enlai to understand the opponent’s cards and take the initiative in the negotiation.
Half a century of false boasting
For more than half a century, the CCP has boasted about its invincibility in terms of the strategy and tactics it used to outwit its enemies. However, the mystery of its success is gradually coming to light. The CCP used spies to infiltrate enemy forces and learn about their strategic deployment.
During the three-year civil war launched by the CCP, Anna Shen participated in all the critical meetings of the Kuomintang’s Committees. She provided the military reports of military leaders, especially Chiang Kai-shek’s every word and deed, to the CCP.
Zhou Enlai commented: “Chairman Mao saw Chiang Kai-shek’s combat order before it reached the army commander.”
June 1946 was a critical time in determining the survival of the Communist Party of China. During this period, when Chiang Kai-shek discussed top-secret issues at the high-level decision-making meeting of the Kuomintang, he would suddenly signal: “Don’t write down the following words.” At this time, everyone in the audience had to stop writing, and 31-year-old Anna Shen was no exception. But she repeated Chiang Kai-shek’s speech in her mind until she had memorized it, and then secretly wrote it down when she could go to the bathroom.
A reporter interviews Anna
In April 1949, the Kuomintang was defeated and began to retreat southward. The higher-level leaders instructed that they did not need to follow the Kuomintang to the south, so Anna Shen and her husband suddenly “disappeared” and quietly left Nanjing, returning to Shanghai.
After founding the Communist Party of China, she and her husband didn’t leave their old jobs as agents but joined the National Security Bureau and the Shanghai National Security Bureau, respectively.
In 2001, Anna Shen made a rare appearance at a commemoration event for the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. A reporter wanted to gather some real information about the Civil War period, so he began to apply for an interview with her. Still, he was repeatedly rejected by the Ministry of National Security. Later, seeing that he was too persistent, the relevant department reluctantly agreed. At the time of the interview, the reporter found two “security guards from the Ministry of National Security” accompanying him!
When asked by the reporter about the specific aspects of the Liaoshen and Huaihai campaigns, Anna Shen said cryptically: “History that should be declassified can be declassified; what should not be declassified cannot be declassified.” Could it be that Anna and the reporter would have been silenced if she had spoken out? This is hard to say. At age 20, Anna helped the CCP seize half of China, but the CCP never dared to disclose any of her achievements. Even her interviews with official media were monitored.
One can only wonder what Anna Shen gained as a spy — possibly fear and retribution. When she died, an insider described how she once told herself: “I have been exposed. Hurry up and leave through the back door.” Anna Shen passed away with a secret that could not be told.
Translated by Chua B and edited by Maria
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