Luo wao born to a peasant family in
Cangxi County,
Sichuan,
Republic of China in September 1918. He joined the
Communist Youth League of China in 1932 at age 14, and the Chinese Red Army (predecessor of the
People's Liberation Army) in 1934, taking part in the
Long March (1934–35). Luo joined the
Chinese Communist Party in 1936. Initially working in political propaganda among young soldiers, Luo caught the eye of Wu Defeng, an experienced Communist Party intelligence agent, who recommended him to the
Central Party School in
Yan'an, where Luo studied from September 1937 to July 1938, receiving political and military training. Immediately afterwards, from July to December 1938, he was part of the Intelligence Training Class at Zaoyuan (near Yan'an) where some of his instructors were Soviet-trained agents. The Central Investigation Department also worked to combat the US trade embargo on China (in place since 1950) by collaborating with the Greek shipping billionaire
Aristotle Onassis, whose ships went on to secretly carry cargo to Chinese ports in violation of the embargo. During the early stages of the
Cultural Revolution, in 1966 and 1967, Luo Qingchang was initially named as a "black element" and endured persecution by the
Red Guards, but very soon he managed to escape harm and return to his duties; this was almost unique among high-ranking CID officials, and probably had to do with Luo's friendship with Premier Zhou Enlai and
Wang Dongxing; nearly all leading officials of the CID were purged between 1966 and 1970. ==Personal life==