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Chen Yi's funeral was the first hint I had that Mao was planning to rehabilitate the men he had overthrown.
Chen Yi, the former minister of foreign affairs, died on January 6, 1972, of colon cancer. He was a feisty and outspoken man, and he had been fearless in his opposition to the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, the fanaticism of the Red Guards, and the misguided leadership of Lin Biao. In February 1967, he was one of several high-ranking leaders to speak out strongly against those excesses. At a meeting that month, vice-premiers Tan Zhenlin and Li Fuchun criticized Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, and several of their colleagues for their conduct in the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, during a meeting of the Military Affairs Commission, marshals Chen Yi, Ye Jianying, Xu Xiangqian, and Nie Rongzhen made a similar critique. On February 17, 1967, Tan Zhenlin had written a letter to the central authorities saying that he ought not have joined the struggle for revolution, should never have joined the Red Army, and should not have joined Mao's forces in Jinggangshan in the early 1930s.
His letter was forwarded to Mao. “I cannot imagine that Tan Zhenlin's thoughts have become so muddled,” Mao wrote in the margins. “This is totally unexpected.”
After he received the letter, Mao called several members of the Central Cultural Revolution Small Group together for his response. He agreed with Lin Biao's accusations against Tan Zhenlin, Chen Yi, and their colleagues of trying to revive the monarchy and reverse the course of the Cultural Revolution. Their attempt to stop the Cultural Revolution became known as the February Adverse Current.
With Mao's critique, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing had all the excuse they needed to launch a nationwide campaign against the men who had criticized them. A new wave of purges began. Chen Yi was forced from office. Following the purge of so many senior members of the politburo and the Military Affairs Commission, both bodies ceased to function. Decision-making powers of the politburo were handed over de facto to the Central Cultural Revolution Small Group. When Chen Yi died in early 1972, he was still in disgrace.
His funeral was scheduled for three o'clock in the afternoon of January 10 at the Babaoshan cemetery on the western edge of the city, where most of the country's revolutionary leaders were interred. Mao was not supposed to attend. He and his old comrade had never made their peace. Zhou Enlai was to preside over the ceremony instead, and Ye Jianying would deliver the eulogy. Ye sent his proposed remarks for Mao's approval. When Mao saw the sentence, true to the official line, that described Chen Yi as a man “with achievements as well as mistakes,” Mao crossed out the reference to Chen's mistakes. Mao had rehabilitated his old comrade.
When Mao woke at one o'clock in the afternoon on the day of Chen Yi's funeral, he suddenly decided to participate after all. He did not even bother to dress. Hastily, he slipped on a silk robe and leather slippers and insisted that we leave immediately, ignoring our warnings about the bitter cold and gusty wind. We managed to cover him with a coat and hat, and I accompanied him as he walked stoically to his car. Wang Dongxing alerted Zhou Enlai and called ahead to Babaoshan, warning Yang Dezhong that the Chairman was on his way and urging him to see that the room was heated.
We arrived at the funeral home before most of the mourners. But Chen Yi's widow, Zhang Qian, and their children were already there, and Mao asked them to join him at the reception hall. Mao rose, helped by his attendant, when Zhang Qian entered and walked toward her with outstretched arms, taking her hands in his. Chen Yi's widow was crying. Mao blinked his eyes too. “Chen Yi was a good comrade,” he said.
Several other leaders had arrived—Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, and Zhu De—and from over my shoulder I heard someone exclaim that the Chairman was crying. Chen Yi's comrades burst into sobs, and the wails filled the room.
But the Chairman was not crying. He was putting on a good show, blinking his eyes and making an effort to wail. His acting skills were still finely honed.
Cambodia's recently deposed prince Norodom Sihanouk was also there, and it was in his conversation with the prince that Mao signaled his desire for a reconciliation with fallen leaders. As he shook Sihanouk's hand, Mao said that his closest comrade in arms had tried to flee to the Soviet Union but died in a plane crash in Outer Mongolia instead. “That closest comrade in arms was Lin Biao, but really he opposed me. Chen Yi supported me.”
Then Mao began talking about the February Adverse Current, saying that he had come to regard the “adverse current” as an attempt by Chen Yi and other faithful veteran leaders to oppose Lin Biao, Chen Boda, Wang Li, Guan Feng, and Qi Benyu—the fallen radicals of the Cultural Revolution. The “adverse current” in fact was positive.
After Chen Yi's funeral, the rehabilitations began. Yang Chengwu, the former acting chief of the general staff who had been so good to Group One during our stint of hard labor at the Ming tombs reservoir, was one of the first to be reinstated, together with Yu Lijin, former political commissar of the air force, and Fu Chongbi, the former commander of the Beijing Garrison Command. They had been dismissed by Lin Biao at a March 24, 1968, meeting of ten thousand military officers in the Great Hall of the People. “Lin Biao's accusation against them was false,” Mao said. He wrote a note to Yang Chengwu and asked Wang Dongxing to deliver it. “Yang Chengwu, I understand you,” Mao wrote. “The Yang, Yu, Fu case was a mistake.” Their names were cleared.
Luo Ruiqing was the next to come back. “Lin Biao also falsely accused Luo Ruiqing,” Mao said. “I listened to Lin and dismissed Luo. I was imprudent to listen so often to his one-sided views. I have to criticize myself.”
Mao never admitted that the Cultural Revolution had been a mistake. But Lin Biao's perfidy convinced him that he needed to change his strategy. He put Zhou Enlai in charge of rehabilitating many of the leaders who had been overthrown.