Lei Feng

Lei Feng (born Lei Zhengxing, 18 December 1940 – 15 August 1962) was a soldier in China’s People’s Liberation Army who became the focus of major state propaganda campaigns. The most famous of these, launched in 1963, used the slogan “Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng.” He was held up as an ideal citizen, and people were urged to copy his selflessness, modesty, and loyalty to Mao Zedong. Over time, both the Chinese Communist Party and the government presented him as a symbol of revolutionary dedication. For decades, media campaigns promoted the idea of “learning from Lei Feng.” His political outlook closely matched the Party’s, and he was shown as someone who actively helped others, lived frugally, and embodied the socialist principle of “one for all, all for one”—a set of traits known as the Lei Feng spirit. After Mao’s death, state media kept promoting Lei Feng as a model of diligence and service, and his image still appears on items like T-shirts and souvenirs.

Many Western historians have considered the details of Lei Feng’s life—especially his diary—to be propaganda inventions, and some have even questioned whether he existed at all. More recent research suggests the diary was edited and used for propaganda but was not entirely fabricated. The government’s continued use of Lei Feng in propaganda has led to cynicism and mockery among some Chinese people. Still, his role as a propaganda icon has lasted through decades of political change in China.

**Life**

According to the official biography promoted by Chinese state media, Lei Feng was born in Wangcheng, near the town of Leifeng in Changsha, Hunan (a town later named after him). CNTV reports that all of his immediate family died before the People’s Republic was founded, leaving him an orphan. His father was killed by the invading Japanese army when Lei was five. His older brother, who worked as a child laborer, died a year later, and his younger brother died soon after. His mother then killed herself after being “dishonored by a landlord.”

In autumn 1958, the Anshan Iron and Steel Group recruited workers in Changsha. Lei Feng was recommended and joined the company’s Gongchangling Iron Mine as a bulldozer operator. He became a member of the Communist Youth Corps while young and joined a transportation unit of the People’s Liberation Army at age twenty. His official biography states that he died in 1962 at age 21 (or 22 by Chinese age reckoning) when a telephone pole, struck by an army truck, hit him as he was directing the truck while it backed up.

**Popular image**

In popular accounts, Lei Feng and his diary were not widely known until after his death. According to Harold Tanner, Lin Biao first presented Lei Feng’s Diary to the public in 1963, during the first of many “Learn from Lei Feng” campaigns. The diary was filled with accounts of Lei’s admiration for Mao, his selfless acts, and his wish to encourage revolutionary spirit. He famously said his only ambition was “to be a rustless screw” in the revolutionary cause. Lin Biao used the diary as part of a larger effort to improve Mao’s image, which had suffered after the Great Leap Forward. Western scholars generally believe the diary was forged by Party officials under Lin’s direction.

However, more recent researchers have noted that the diary was not discovered after his death; excerpts had already been published between 1959 and 1960 and circulated through the Party propaganda system. Only after Mao approved it did Lei Feng become a national icon. Unlike earlier historians thought, Lei Feng was already a well-known media figure while alive. The diary contains about 200,000 words describing selfless thoughts, with enthusiastic comments on Mao and the Party’s inspiring nature. The campaign began as China’s economy was recovering from the Great Leap Forward. By 1964, the Lei Feng campaign shifted from promoting good deeds to a cult of Mao.

Lei Feng died in the line of duty at age 22. His short life is said to embody the noble ideals of a new people raised with communist spirit, as well as the moral integrity and values of the Chinese people in the new era. These include firm faith in communist ideals, political warmth toward the Party and socialism, revolutionary will to work hard for self-improvement, moral self-cultivation shown through unity and helping others, heroic readiness to fight for justice, a drive to study and improve, and a genuine spirit of matching words with deeds and carrying out duties enthusiastically.

Chinese leaders have praised Lei Feng as the personification of altruism. Those who have written about him include Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and Jiang Zemin. His cultural importance is still reproduced and reinforced by the media and cultural apparatus of the Chinese party-state, including an emphasis on moral character from Mao’s era. His prominence in school textbooks has declined, but he remains part of the national curriculum. The phrase *huó Léi Fēng* (“living Lei Feng”) has become a noun or adjective for anyone seen as selfless or who goes out of their way to help others.

The CCP’s creation of Lei Feng as a celebrity soldier is unique to the PRC and differs from the more typical creation of military heroes by governments during wartime. In the PRC, Lei Feng was part of an ongoing public campaign.