Early life and education Zeng was born on January 23, 1910, at Baishutang () in
Changsha,
Hunan, with her
ancestral home in
Xiangxiang (now
Shuangfeng County). She was a descendant of
Zeng Guoquan, a renowned general in the late
Qing Empire and one of three brothers of
Zeng Guofan. She had five siblings. Her siblings were, in order of birth: Zeng Xianpu (; 1908–1966), Zeng Xiankai (; 1908–1985), Zeng Xianzhen (; 1911–1997), Zeng Xianzhu (; 1919–1986), and Zeng Xianju (). In 1916 she attended Changsha Gudaotian Normal School (). Under the influence of
Xu Teli, she threw herself into China's revolution. In 1926, she was accepted to the Wuhan Central Military and Political Academy. Whilst still nominally at school she participated in the
Northern Expedition.
Revolutionary career In 1927, Zeng went to
Guangzhou to help organize the
Guangzhou Uprising. She joined the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1928. She was a member of the CCP underground in
Shanghai under "legal" cover as a student of
South China University. In May 1929 she was arrested by the
Nationalist government for participating in anti-government protests. After her release she pursued advanced studies in
Japan. Zeng returned to China in 1931. In 1937 she worked in
Xinhua Daily in
Wuhan, capital of
Hubei province. Two years later, she was transferred to
Guilin as traffic coordinator of the
Eighth Route Army. In 1941 she entered the Yan'an Marxism–Leninism College and the
Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party; after graduation, she worked in the Dihou Gongzuo Department of the CCP
Central Committee (). In the spring of 1946, she attended the Chongqing Negotiations with the Communist delegation. She successively served as secretary of
Deng Yingchao and group leader of the Southern Bureau Women's Group (). In March 1947, she transferred to the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei Border Region () and attended the Land Reform Movement ().
After the founding of the Communist State At the beginning of 1949, Zeng was appointed deputy secretary-general of the First National Women's Congress. This was China's first national congress for women and 500 delegates heard Mao Zedong tell them to increase production and to demand their rights. After the congress Zeng worked in the
All-China Women's Federation until the
Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, she was called a "big black umbrella" () and "alien-class element" () by the Communist government, and she was sent to the
May Seventh Cadre Schools in
Hengshui County,
Hebei to be re-educated and to do farm work. In 1974, after seeing his mother's unfair treatment,
Ye Xuanning wrote a letter to
Mao Zedong who approved Zeng's return to
Beijing. In September 1978, Zeng was elected vice-president of the All-China Women's Federation at the Fourth National Women's Congress. She was a delegate to the
1st National People's Congress, a member of the 3rd and 6th National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a Standing Committee member of the 4th and 5th National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. On October 11, 1989, she died in
Macau. ==Personal life==