Yang Yuehua (楊月花; born March 1929), née Mao Jinhua, was born in Longyan, Fujian, China with family roots in Xiangtan, Hunan, China. She is the elder daughter of Mao Zedong (Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party) and his third wife He Zizhen. When she was born in 1929, the Chinese Communist Party was being chased by the Kuomintang army and Mao Zedong decided to leave Longyan and abandon his daughter. She was later adopted by a family surnamed Yang, who changed her name to Yang Yuehua.[1]
In 1973, He Minxue, Yang's mother's elder brother, met with Yang in Fuzhou and confirmed her identity. However, Yang never met with her parents before their death, for several reasons; allegedly Jiang Qing, Mao's fourth wife, forbade it.[2]