ABSTRACT
Women soldiers not only served in the regiments, they also attended the Red Army schools and academies. There are no precise details of the numbers of women soldier students in these schools. Nevertheless, fragmentary information from those years reveals their presence. In early 1932, for example, Kang Keqing, the commander of the Red Army women soldiers, and 200 women from the division of Women Volunteers went to the Red Army Academy to study for six months. Afterwards, ambitious to become a general of the Red Army, Kang stayed on and became a full-time student. She described men's and women's training in the academy as exactly the same.82 The structure of the Academy as well as the Army's other schools were similar to an army company. There were clubs and Lenin rooms to promote the RSM and to assist the Party's political and physical education programme. Like the company, the Academy used sports activities and competitions to train the students to become efficient Red Army cadres. 83 Some women also studied in the Red Army's School of Medicine. This school also held sports competitions, for example, at its opening and graduation ceremonies. The purpose was to publicise and promote the RSM in order to ensure the health and fitness of both the Red Army and the masses. 84 On 24 July 1933, for example, the School of Medicine held a typical sports competition. It included 100-, 200-and 400-metre races, high jump, long jump, table-tennis, basketball and tennis. Women students took part in the running events.85
