Luó Yīxiù was the first wife of Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 from 1907 until her death in 1910. She was from the town of Shaoshan

Shaoshan

Shaoshan is a county-level city in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, noted as the birthplace of Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China. Shaoshan was an important base during the Chinese Communist Revolution....

, Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 province, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

It was an arranged marriage, but Mao (then 14) was far too ambitious to simply settle down to the normal life of a farmer and family man. He insisted on leaving the area in order to pursue his studies. The marriage broke up, and for many decades the identity of the bride was kept secret in order to spare her family embarrassment. Mao never formally acknowledged the marriage.