His father Peng Xin (彭辛), was part of an elite Hokkien-speaking landlord and merchant family that rented land to more than 1,500 tenant farmers.

There he experienced several historical events of in the aftermath of World War I that forever changed China and Sino-Japan relations.

He believed that only a complete social, political, and economic revolution and the creation of a socialist system could ensure China's survival.

[9]: 74  He organized a May Day celebration parade to the county seat involving his students and "many boys and girls of wealthy families" in 1922.

The KMT was then led by Sun Yat-sen and carried out the policies of "alliance with Soviet Russia, cooperation with the Communists, and assistance to peasant and worker movements".

Many prominent Communist and left wing members of the KMT along with tens of thousands of the masses suspected pro-CCP were imprisoned or slaughtered.

Peng Pai was elected as a member of the CCP Central Committee on the 5th National Congress held in Wuhan during April and May.

He was lately appointed as a member of the CCP Front Committee led by Zhou Enlai for organizing and directing the Nanchang Uprising launched on August 1 of that year.

While at a meeting in Shanghai on August 24, Peng, Yang Yin (杨殷) and three other CCP leaders were arrested by the KMT.

[12] Zhou Enlai, leading the Central Special Task Units (CSTU) of the CCP, organized an action attempting to rescue Peng Pai but this failed.

On August 30, Peng Pai was secretly killed at Longhua, Shanghai by the KMT government on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek.

On November 11, per Zhou Enlai's order, Chen Geng and Gu Shunzhang directed the CSTU with its Red Squad to kill Peng's betrayer, Bai Xin, outside of his hidden shelter in Shanghai.