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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Bo Yibo (1908–): Born in Dingxiang, Shaanxi. Joined the Chinese Communist party (CCP) in 1925. Finance minister 1949–53, vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission 1954–56, chairman, State Economic Commission 1956–66, and vice-premier 1956–66. Persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, but survived to become senior statesman after 1978.

Chen Boda (1904–89): Born in Huian, Fujian. Entered Moscow's Sun Yatsen University in 1927. Served as one of Mao's political secretaries. Editor in chief Red Flag, 1958–66, member Politburo standing committee 1966–70. Rose to great power during the Cultural Revolution, but fell from grace in 1970.

Chen Xilian (1913–??): Born in Huangan, Hubei. Joined the CCP in 1930. Commander of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Artillery Corps 1950–59. Commander of Shenyang Military Region 1959–73 and first party secretary of Liaoning province 1971–73. Became commander of Beijing Military Region in 1974 and a vice-premier in 1975. A close associate of Mao's nephew, Mao Yuanxin. His relations with the Gang of Four led to his resignation in 1980.

Chen Yi (1901–72): Born in Lezhi, Sichuan. Joined the CCP in France in 1923. One of China's ten marshals. Mayor of Shanghai 1949–58, becoming vice-premier in 1954 and foreign minister in 1958. Persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Died of cancer in 1972.

Chen Yun (1905–): Born in Jingpu, Jiangsu. Joined the CCP in 1925. Vice-premier 1949–72. Became vice-chairman of the CCP Central Committee in 1956 and one of the top seven leaders of the CCP. Went into obscurity in the late 1950s due to his lukewarm support of the Great Leap Forward. Re-emerged in 1978 as vice-chairman of CCP Central Committee to become influential senior statesman.

Chen Zaidao (1908–93): Born in Macheng, Hubei. Joined the CCP guerrilla forces in 1927. Commander of Wuhan Military Region 1954–67. Criticized during the Cultural Revolution.

Deng Tuo (1912–66): Born in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Became director of Beijing municipal Propaganda Department in 1951 and was director and chief editor of People's Daily 1950–58. Accused of being “anti-party” in 1966 and purged; committed suicide in 1966.

Deng Xiaoping (1904–): Born in Guangan, Sichuan. Went to study in France in 1920 and joined the CCP in 1924. Appointed vice-premier in 1952, becoming secretary-general of the party and member of politburo standing committee in 1956. Purged at the beginning of Cultural Revolution and rehabilitated in 1973. Purged again in 1976. Since 1978, has been the paramount leader of China.

Deng Zihui (1896–1972): Born in Longyan, Fujian. Became leader of guerrilla base in western Fujian in 1920s. Director of Rural Work Department under the CCP Central Committee in 1953. Appointed vice-premier in 1954, but was criticized as a “right conservative” by Mao in summer 1955, after which his Rural Work Department was dissolved.

Fu Lianzhang (aka Nelson Fu) (1894–1968): Born in Changding, Fujian. Baptized a Christian and trained as medical doctor at a Christian medical school. Known as “the Christian doctor.” Treated Mao and other party leaders in Jiangxi soviet in early 1930s and participated in Long March 1934–35. Vice-minister of public health in 1952, in charge of top leaders' health care. Forced to retire in late 1950s. Tortured to death during the Cultural Revolution in 1968.

Gao Gang (1905–54): Born in Hengshan, Shaanxi. One of the founders of the CCP's northwest guerrilla base. Secretary of Northeast Bureau (Manchuria) 1945–54 and a vice-chairman of the central government 1949–54. After being accused of forming an anti-party alliance with Rao Shushi, was purged, and committed suicide in 1954.

Guo Moruo (1892–1978): Born in Leshan, Sichuan. Joined the CCP in 1927. Trained in medicine, he became a well-known scholar and writer. Befriended Mao during the Chongqing negotiations in 1945. Vice-premier, 1949–54, chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, 1949–66, and president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1949–78.

George Hatem (1910–88): A Lebanese-American and a graduate of Geneva Medical School. Went to China to practice medicine in 1933. Went to Yanan in 1936. Joined the CCP and became a Chinese citizen in 1950. Died in Beijing.

He Zizhen (born He Guiyuan) (1909–84): Born in Yongxing, Jiangxi. Joined the CCP in 1926. Married Mao in Jiangxi in 1928 and bore him six (?) children. Only Li Min survives. Participated in the Long March 1934–35. In 1937, left Yanan to receive medical treatment in the Soviet Union, returning in August 1947. Never formally divorced from Mao, she lived in Shanghai after 1949.

Hu Qiaomu (1912–92): Born in Yancheng, Jiangsu. Joined the CCP in 1935. Educated at Qinghua University. Became one of Mao's political secretaries in 1945. Deputy director of the Department of Propaganda 1950–66, and editor of Mao's selected works. Politically inactive after 1961 because of ill health, he reemerged as party's leading ideologue after Mao's death.

Hua Guofeng (1921–): Born in Jiaocheng, Shaanxi. Joined the CCP in 1940. Became party secretary of Xiangtan prefecture, Hunan, where Mao's native village of Shaoshan is located. First met Mao in 1955. Became first party secretary of Hunan in 1970. Appointed to the politburo in 1973. In 1976 became premier and first vice-chairman of the CCP, designated by Mao as his successor. In overall charge of the arrest of the Gang of Four, became party chairman and chairman of the Military Affairs Commission after Mao's death. By 1981, had been dismissed from all three important posts, remaining only a member of the CCP Central Committee.

Huang Jing (born Yu Qiwei) (1911–58): Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Joined the CCP in 1932. Jiang Qing's common-law husband in early 1930s. First party secretary of Tianjin in the early 1950s and later the minister of First Ministry of Machine Industry and chairman of the State Technological Commission. Criticized by Mao in 1958 and died the same year.

Jiang Nanxiang (1910–88): Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Educated at Qinghua University, where he joined the CCP in 1933. In 1949, appointed deputy secretary of the New Democratic Youth League (later the Communist Youth League) and later president of Qinghua University. Became vice-minister of education in 1960 and minister of higher education in 1965. Purged in 1966 during Cultural Revolution.

Jiang Qing (aka Li Jinhai, Li Yunhe, and Lan Ping) (1913–91): Born in Zhucheng, Shandong. Common-law wife of Huang Qing in early 1930s. Shanghai actress in mid-1930s. Married playwright Tang Na in 1936. Went to Yanan in August 1937. Became Mao's fourth wife in November 1938. It is widely believed that the CCP politburo agreed to the marriage only on the condition that Jiang Qing not appear publicly as Mao's wife and that she refrain from politics. Had one daughter with Mao, Li Na. Came to political prominence during the Cultural Revolution. After Mao's death, arrested as the leading member of the Gang of Four and sentenced to death, with a two-year stay of execution. Her sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in 1983. Committed suicide in 1991.

Kang Sheng (1898–1975): Born in Jiaonan, Shandong. Met Jiang Qing in 1918. Joined CCP in 1925. Spearheaded party rectification movement in Yanan in 1945. Entered Beijing Hospital in 1950; said to be diagnosed as schizophrenic. Politically active again during the Great Leap Forward in 1958. Became adviser of the Central Cultural Revolution Small Group and member of the politburo in 1966 and masterminded many purges of high-ranking CCP members during the Cultural Revolution. Died of bladder cancer.

Ke Qingshi (1900–65): Born in Wuhu, Anhui. Visited Russia in 1922. Party secretary of Jiangsu province (1952–55) and Nanjing municipality (1950–52), becoming party secretary of Shanghai in 1955. Closely associated with Mao, became a politburo member in 1958 and vice-premier in 1965. Died of acute pancreatitis in 1965.

Li Min (1936–): Born in Yanan. The only surviving offspring of Mao and He Zizhen. In 1940, joined her mother in the Soviet Union and lived there until they returned to China in 1947. After 1949, lived in Mao's Zhongnanhai compound. Studied at Beijing Normal University. Married Kong Linhua in 1959 and had a son the next year. Appointed a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1979.

Li Na (1940–): Born in Yanan. The daughter and only child of Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing. Studied history at Peking University 1959–65. Married in early 1970s, had a son, but later divorced. In 1974–75, appointed party secretary of Pinggu county outside Beijing and later became a vice-party secretary of Beijing. After her mother was arrested as one of the Gang of Four, was dismissed from her post and lived in difficult circumstances. Later she was given a job with the Bureau of Secretaries in the General Office. Married Wang Jingqing, former bodyguard of Liu Shaoqi, in 1985.

Li Xiannian (1909–92): Born in Hongan, Hubei. Joined the CCP in 1927. Served as vice-premier (1954–80) and finance minister (1954–75). From 1983 to 1988, was president of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Li Yinqiao (1927–): Born in Anping, Hebei. Joined the communist revolution in 1938. Served as Zhou Enlai's bodyguard before becoming Mao's in 1947. Married Han Guixin in 1948. Became Mao's deputy chief bodyguard in 1952 and chief bodyguard in 1956. In 1962, after a year in the countryside, left to work in Tianjin. Became deputy director of the Bureau of Management of the Great Hall of the People.

Li Yunlu (?–1988): Jiang Qing's older half-sister (sharing the same father, but with a different mother). Married to Wang Keming. Supported Jiang Qing when Jiang was a child. Joined Jiang Qing in 1948 and later moved to Mao's compound in Zhongnanhai to take care of Li Na. Moved with her son to Qinghua University at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

Lin Biao (1907–71): Born in Huanggang, Hubei. Joined the CCP in 1925. One of China's ten marshals. Replaced Peng Dehuai as defense minister in 1959. Designated Mao's successor in 1969. In September 1971, after allegedly plotting a coup against Mao, fled by plane. The plane crashed in Outer Mongolia, en route to the Soviet Union, and everyone on board was killed.

Lin Ke (c. 1925–): A graduate of Yenching University and one of Mao's political secretaries, serving under Tian Jiaying, from the early 1950s until 1963.

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969): Born in Ningxiang, Hunan. Joined CCP in 1921 in Moscow and studied at Moscow's University of the Toilers of the East 1921–22. Worked in the underground movement in the late 1930s. Urged the party to study “Mao Zedong Thought” in 1942. Became second only to Mao in the CCP from 1943 to the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Chairman of PRC 1959–67. Persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and died in prison in 1969, his illness untreated. Officially rehabilitated (posthumously) in 1980.

Lu Dingyi (1906–): Born in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Joined the CCP in 1925. Director of Propaganda Department of CCP Central Committee 1954–66, vice-premier 1959–66, and minister of culture 1965–66. Purged and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

Luo Daorang (c. 1915–1969): An overseas Chinese from Thailand who returned to China and went to Yanan early in the anti-Japanese War (1937–45). Deputy director of the General Office's Office of Administration after 1949 and acting director of the Bureau of Bodyguards in 1956. Sent to the countryside by Wang Dongxing in 1961 and appointed party secretary of Zhanjiang, Guangdong, in 1962. Persecuted to death during the Cultural Revolution.

Luo Ruiqing (1906–78): Born in Nanchong, Sichuan. Joined the CCP in 1929. Became the minister of public security in 1949 and directed security arrangements for Mao. Became chief of the PLA's General Staff in 1959. Purged in 1965, before the start of the Cultural Revolution. Rehabilitated in 1975. Died after surgery in West Germany.

Mao Anqing (1923–): Mao's second son by Yang Kaihui. Suffered severe beating by a policeman in Shanghai in the 1930s. Diagnosed as schizophrenic in the early 1950s. Married the sister of Mao Anying's widow in 1962. The two had a son in 1970.

Mao Anying (1922–50): Mao's eldest son by Yang Kaihui. Sent to Shanghai after mother's death and lived as a street urchin. Found and sent to study in the Soviet Union in 1936. Served in Korea as a Russian translator for Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of Chinese army. Killed in an American bombing attack in November 1950.

Mao Yuanxin (1941–): Son of Mao's brother, Mao Zemin, who was executed in Xinjiang in 1943. In 1950, after Mao Yuanxin's mother remarried, was entrusted to Mao Zedong and moved to Mao's Zhongnanhai compound. Studied at Harbin Military Engineering College. Became the party secretary of Liaoning province in 1973 and the political commissar of Shenyang Military Region in 1974. In 1975, served as Mao's liaison with the politburo. Arrested with the Gang of Four and sentenced to seventeen years in prison.

Mao Zedong (1893–1976): Born in Shaoshan village, Xiangtan prefecture, Hunan. Founding member of the CCP in 1921. Paramount leader of the CCP from 1935 until his death in 1976.

Mao Zemin (1896–1943): Born in Shaoshan village, Xiangtan prefecture, Hunan. Younger brother of Mao Zedong. Joined the CCP in 1922. Worked with Xinjiang warlord Sheng Shicai, who had Mao Zemin arrested and killed in 1943, after Sheng turned against the CCP. Mao Yuanxin is the son of Mao Zemin's third wife.

Peng Dehuai (1898–1974): Born in Xiangtan, Hunan. Joined the CCP in 1928. One of China's ten marshals. Vice-premier 1954–65 and defense minister 1954–59. Criticized Mao's Great Leap Forward in 1959 and was thereafter purged. Imprisoned in 1966 and died in prison in 1974.

Peng Zhen (1902–): Born in Quwu, Shaanxi. Joined the CCP in 1923. Appointed first party secretary of Beijing Municipality in 1949. Politburo member 1945–66. Close associate of Liu Shaoqi, first politburo member victim of Cultural Revolution, 1966. Peng survived the Cultural Revolution to become senior statesman after Mao's death.

Rao Shushi (1903–75): Born in Linchuan, Jiangxi. Joined the CCP in mid-1920s. First secretary East China Bureau 1949–52, and director of Organization Department of CCP Central Committee in 1952. Purged in 1954 after being accused of conspiring with Gao Gang in an anti-party alliance. Died in prison.

Ren Bishi (1904–50): Born in Xiangyin, Hunan. Joined the CCP in 1922. Educated in Moscow at University of the Toilers of the East, 1921–24; secretary of the secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, 1945–50. Fifth ranking party leader in 1949. Married to Chen Zongying. Died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1950.

Song Qingling (1893–1981): Born in Shanghai. Older sister of Song Meiling (Madame Chiang Kai-shek). Married Sun Yat-sen in 1914. Supported the CCP and became vice-chairman of PRC in 1949.

Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925): Physician and founder of the Guomindang, widely credited with having led the movement that overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911 and established a new republic. Unable to maintain national power after collapse of the Qing, he turned to Soviet advisers for organizational assistance.

Nancy Tang (c. 1940–): Born in Brooklyn, New York, where her father ran a Chinese newspaper. Returned to China and attended the Chinese Foreign Languages Institute before the Cultural Revolution. Served as Mao's English-language interpreter and later as liaison between Mao and the politburo.

Tao Zhu (1908–69): Born in Qiyang, Hunan. Joined the CCP in 1926. Became the first party secretary of Guangdong province in 1953, first secretary of Central-South Bureau in 1961, and a vice-premier in 1965. Rose to fourth place in the party hierarchy in 1966 but was purged several months later. Under house arrest from January 1967 to October 1969, when he died of cancer. Rehabilitated posthumously in 1978.

Tian Jiaying (c. 1922–1966): Largely self-educated, became one of Mao's political secretaries in the late 1940s, a position he retained after the communists came to power. Under suspicion at the onset of the Cultural Revolution, committed suicide in May 1966.

Wang Dongxing (1916–): Born in Yiyang, Jiangxi. Joined the CCP's guerrilla force in mid-1920s. Became Mao's bodyguard in 1947. In 1949, he became director of the bodyguards under the General Office and a vice-minister of the Public Security Ministry, also serving as Mao's chief bodyguard and in charge of the bodyguards for all the top leaders. Became director of the General Office in 1966. Helped direct the arrest of the Gang of Four after Mao's death in 1976 but was deprived of all his posts in 1980.

Wang Guangmei (1921–): Born in Beijing. Graduated from Beijing's Furen University, founded by Catholic missionaries. In 1946, became an English interpreter for the CCP and went to Yanan. Became Liu Shaoqi's third (?) wife in 1948. Imprisoned for the duration of the Cultural Revolution, returning at its conclusion to become a vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang Hairong (c. 1940–) Mao Zedong's grand-niece and a graduate of the Foreign Languages Institute, becoming liaison between Mao and the politburo in the 1970s.

Wang Hebin (1924–): Born in Hebei province. Joined the communist revolution in 1938. Served as Mao's personal physician from August 1949 to September 1953.

Wang Hongwen (1935–92): Born in Changchun, Jilin. A security official at Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Mill in 1966. Rose to power during the Cultural Revolution. Was appointed vice-chairman of the CCP Central Committee in August 1973. In 1976, was arrested as a member of the Gang of Four and sentenced to life imprisonment. Died of liver disease in 1992.

Wang Ming (1904–74): Born in Liuan, Anhui. Joined the CCP in 1925. A graduate of Moscow's Sun Yat-sen University, returned to China in 1930. With the help of the Soviet Union, became a dominant figure in the CCP and the head of the Wang Ming faction of “twenty-eight-and-a-half Bolsheviks.” Clashed with Mao; his own position in the party declined as Mao's importance grew. Returned to the Soviet Union for medical reasons in 1956, staying there until his death in 1974.

Wang Renzhong (1917–92): Born in Jiang, Hebei. Joined the CCP in Jiangxi soviet area in 1933. First secretary Wuhan municipality 1949–54, first secretary Hubei province 1954–66, and political commissar of Wuhan Military Region 1963–67. An important figure early in the Cultural Revolution. Later became ill and moved to Guangzhou. Returned to influence following Mao's death in 1976.

Wu Xujun (c. 1933–): Orphaned as a child; trained as a nurse in the Guomindang's Defense Medical College prior to 1949. Moved to Beijing after graduating from nursing school and became head nurse at the Zhongnanhai Clinic. Appointed by Wang Dongxing in 1960 to be Mao's head nurse. Left Mao's service in 1974.

Wu Yunfu (1904–69): Born in Leiyang, Hunan. Joined the CCP in 1926. Director of administration under Yang Shangkun's General Office and a vice-minister of public health after 1949. Persecuted to death in 1969.

Xie Fuzhi (1909–1972): Born in Hongan, Hubei. Joined the Communist party in 1931. First party secretary of Yunnan province 1955–59, becoming the minister of public security in 1959, succeeding Luo Ruiqing. After 1969, politburo member and vice-premier 1965–72. Died in 1972, but in 1980 was posthumously expelled from the CCP for his activities during the Cultural Revolution.

Xu Shiyou (1906–85): Born in Xin, Henan. A monk trained in martial arts, joined the CCP in 1927. Commander of Nanjing Military Region 1954–74 and commander of the Guangzhou Military Region 1974–80. Appointed to the politburo in 1969 as a balance to Lin Biao's military power. Died in 1985.

Xu Tao (c. 1927–): Born in Beijing; graduated from Beijing Medical College in 1949. Served as Mao's personal physician 1953–54 and later became Jiang Qing's doctor. His wife, Wu Xujun, was Mao's head nurse.

Yang Kaihui (1901–1930): Born in Changsha, Hunan. Married Mao Zedong in winter 1920 and bore him three sons: Mao Anying, Mao Anqing, and Mao Anlong (Anlong died in Shanghai in the mid-1930s). Was arrested and executed in late 1930 for refusing to denounce her revolutionary husband.

Yang Shangkun (1907–): Born in Tongnan, Sichuan. Joined the CCP in 1926. Studied at Moscow's Sun Yat-sen University, becoming the half (because he was so young) of Wang Ming's faction of “twenty-eight-and-a-half Bolsheviks.” Served as director of CCP's General Office 1948–65. Purged in late 1965; survived the Cultural Revolution to become vice-chairman of the Military Affairs Commission and president of the PRC.

Yao Wenyuan (1931–): Born in Zhuji, Zhejiang. Worked at the Policy Research Institute of the Shanghai party committee. Member of the Central Cultural Revolution Small Group. Appointed to politburo in 1969, in charge of ideology. Arrested as member of the Gang of Four and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment.

Ye Jianying (1897–1986): Born in Meixian, Guangdong. Joined the CCP in 1924. One of China's ten marshals. The party secretary of Guangzhou municipality 1950–54; politburo member 1966; politburo standing committee member 1973–85. A leading figure in arresting the Gang of Four. Died in 1986.

Ye Qun (c. 1920–1971): Joined the CCP in Yanan; second wife of Lin Biao. Member Central Cultural Revolution Small Group. Appointed to the politburo in 1969. Died in plane crash in 1971 while fleeing with her husband to the Soviet Union.

Ye Zilong (c. 1915–): Born in Hunan. Joined the Communist army in 1930 and began working as Mao's personal secretary in 1936, a post he held until he fell out of favor in late 1961. Arrested during the Cultural Revolution. Became vice-mayor of Beijing municipality in 1979.

Zhang Chunqiao (1917–): Born in Juye, Shandong. Joined the CCP in 1938. Became chief editor of Liberation Daily, the mouthpiece of the Shanghai party committee in 1951, director of Shanghai propaganda department in 1963, and secretary of Shanghai party committee in 1967. Became deputy head of Central Cultural Revolution Small Group in 1966, politburo member in 1969, and member of the politburo standing committee in 1973. He was director of the General Political Department of the PLA and a vice-premier in 1975. Arrested as a member of the Gang of Four in 1976; sentenced to death, with a two-year reprieve. In 1983 his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.

Zhang Yufeng (1944–): Born in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang. Met Mao in 1960 while serving as an attendant on Mao's special train and later became his constant companion. Was formally appointed Mao's confidential secretary in 1974, retaining that position until Mao's death.

Zhang Yaoci (c. 1915–): Born in Yiyang, Jiangxi. Participated in the Long March. From the same town as Wang Dongxing; served as commander of the Central Garrison Corps while Wang Dongxing was the party secretary there. One of the men responsible for Mao's security.

Zhou Enlai (1898–1976): Born in Huaian, Jiangsu. Went to France to study in early 1920s and joined the CCP in 1922. Premier of PRC 1949–76. Member politburo standing committee 1956–76.

Zhu De (1886–1976): Born in Yilong, Sichuan. Joined the CCP in 1922. Commander-in-chief of the Red Army in 1930s. One of China's ten marshals. Vice head of state of the central government 1949–59. Member politburo standing committee 1956–76.