[2] Her eldest brother, Nie Zhen (聂真), was a founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cell in the county.

[2] When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, Nie, then sixteen years old, joined the Communist resistance in Shanxi, which was supported by warlord Yan Xishan.

[3] In early 1966, she married Wu Gaizhi [zh], an official in the powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and a peer of the radical leader Kang Sheng.

Although Nie's main criticism was over the control of Peking University by the bourgeoisie, the aim of the campaign was to legitimise the purge of the Beijing municipal party chief Peng Zhen, by exposing his alleged crime of supporting a bourgeoise reactionary education line.

This was pushed by members of the radical left-lean clique surrounding Mao Zedong, including Kang Sheng and his wife Cao Yi'ou.

[4] Mao's approval encouraged attacks on authorities[7] and inspired students at other universities to write posters, most of which expressed support for the "revolutionary action" of Nie.

[8] Nie initially supported the persecution of other academics, but later disagreed on the course the Cultural Revolution was taking and tried to quit her position in the Red Guards.

[12] In 1998, the renowned scholar Ji Xianlin published his memoir Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, recounting his persecution during the period.