Gexin Chen

Chen Gexin (Chinese: 陳歌辛; pinyin: Chén Gēxīn; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Ko-hsin; September 19, 1914 – January 25, 1961) was a Chinese popular music songwriter. He also used the pen names Lín Méi (林枚) and Qìng Yú (慶餘). Chen Gexin was beaten to death in his sleep during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Chen was born on September 19, 1914, to a low social status family, and his wealthy maternal Indian grandfather was the only survivor of the British colonial destructions in India. He married his admirer and student Jin Jiaoli, against her Korean family's wishes in 1935. During World War II, he was jailed by the Japanese puppet regime for his patriotic songs. Chen and his family moved to Hong Kong after the war ended.

With the Communist seizure of power in China in 1949, popular music was considered ideologically suspect and Chen was labeled a rightist and imprisoned in a laogai for "reform through labor" at Baimiaoling Farm, Anhui, in 1957, there he befriended a journalist named Ai Yi.

According to an essay and reports by Ai Yi, Chen Gexin was beaten to death during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. He was buried in the mass grave at the hill near the farm. A year later, Chen's widow Jin Jiaoli went there with a box to search through the dead bodies in a vain effort to collect his remains.

He was rehabilitated in 1979.