Li Dazhao : China's First Communist

Biography of a major figure in modern Chinese history.

Winner of the 2025 Academic Excellence Award presented by the Chinese Historians in the United States

Winner of the 2024 Best Scholarly Publication Award presented by the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the United States

As one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Dazhao (1889–1927) was a key figure in China's transition from empire to republic, from tradition to modernity, and from imperial rule to turbulent revolution. Patrick Fuliang Shan's biography of Li, the first English-language study in over half a century, draws on a wealth of Chinese-language primary and secondary sources to examine Li's early life, family, education, and career; his endeavors to introduce Western civilization to the Chinese; his switch to communism and his leadership role in the early Communist movement; his political maneuvers and revolutionary activities; and his tragic death at the hands of the warlord Zhang Zuolin. While its focus is on Li's personal odyssey and extraordinary journey, the book also presents an in-depth analysis of China's broad national experience and its march towards modernity.

Patrick Fuliang Shan is Professor of History at Grand Valley State University. He is the author of Taming China's Wilderness: Immigration, Settlement and the Shaping of the Heilongjiang Frontier, 1900–1931 and Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal.