In 1954, Gao Hua was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Both of his parents were not intellectuals. Gao Hua's father, Gao Qifa, came from a poor family and started working as a child laborer in an electroplating factory at a young age. With the support of his uncle, Gao Qifa managed to complete junior high school and later joined the underground CCP. In 1949, he served as an acting section chief in the Nanjing Military Control Committee.[1][2][3]
After 1949, due to changes in the political environment, former underground CCP members (hidden front) in Nanjing faced political purges. In 1954, Gao Qifa was expelled from the CCP. In 1958, his family faced discrimination as he was labeled as a rightist during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. During the Cultural Revolution, Gao Qifa was subjected to struggle sessions, while Gao Hua worked as a worker in a store but continued to self-educate through reading history. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, the college entrance examination (gaokao) no longer required information about the family background. Thus, in 1978, Gao Hua was admitted to the History Department of Nanjing University. After graduating, he was assigned to work in the Nanjing Cultural Relics Management Bureau and later reentered Nanjing University as a graduate student in the History Department, earning both his master's and doctoral degrees.[4]
