Mr Patrick Nugent1
1University Of Adelaide, Australia
Shen Anna and her husband Hua Mingzhi were communist agents who infiltrated the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Republican government. Born in 1915, Shen learnt shorthand and in 1934 secured a job as a stenographer in the KMT’s Zhejiang offices. Her position gave her access to high-level meetings of senior KMT officials, including Chiang Kai-shek. This enabled her to pass on copies of meeting notes to the CCP. Shen’s ‘special work’ certainly contributed to the Party’s victory. Shen’s job was difficult and dangerous, and she received only belated recognition. Drawing on Shen’s autobiography and other underutilized Chinese sources, this presentation will profile a fascinating portrait of an overlooked historical figure, as well as provide insight into the political importance of CCP intelligence.
Biography:
Patrick Nugent: Studied at La Trobe University. Now a PhD student at the University of Adelaide researching historical case studies of Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence apparatus.