The Gang of Four was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to their responsibility for the excesses and failures in the Cultural Revolution. The gang's leading figure was Jiang Qing. The other members were Zhang Chunqiao,Yao Wenyuan,and Wang Hongwen.
The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC),officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China,is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Historically it has been composed of five to eleven members,and currently has seven members. Its officially mandated purpose is to conduct policy discussions and make decisions on major issues when the Politburo,a larger decision-making body,is not in session. According to the party's constitution,the General Secretary of the Central Committee must also be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
Chen Yun was a Chinese revolutionary leader who was one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China during the 1980s and 1990s and one of the major architects and important policy makers for the reform and opening up period,alongside Deng Xiaoping. He was also known as Liao Chenyun (廖陈云),as he took his uncle's family name when he was adopted by him after his parents died.
Generations of Chinese leadership is a term historians use to characterize distinct periods of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and,by extension,successive changes in the ideology of the CCP. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by reference to these "generations".
Peng Zhen was a leading member of the Chinese Communist Party. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949,but was purged during the Cultural Revolution for opposing Mao's views on the role of literature in relation to the state. He was rehabilitated under Deng Xiaoping in 1982 along with other 'wrongly accused' officials,and became the inaugural head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
Kang Sheng,born Zhang Zongke,was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official,best known for having overseen the work of the CCP's internal security and intelligence apparatus during the early 1940s and again at the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A member of the CCP from the early 1920s,he spent time in Moscow during the early 1930s,where he learned the methods of the Soviet NKVD and became a supporter of Wang Ming for leadership of the CCP. After returning to China in the late 1930s,Kang Sheng switched his allegiance to Mao Zedong and became a close associate of Mao during the Second Sino-Japanese War,the Chinese Civil War,and after. He remained at or near the pinnacle of power in the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1975. After the death of Mao and the subsequent arrest of the Gang of Four,Kang Sheng was accused of sharing responsibility with the Gang for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and in 1980 he was expelled posthumously from the CCP.
The chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The position was established at the 8th National Congress in 1945 and abolished at the 12th National Congress in 1982,being replaced by the general secretary. Offices with the name Chairman of the Central Executive Committee and Chairman of the Central Committee existed in 1922–1923 and 1928–1931,respectively.
The Zunyi Conference was a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in January 1935 during the Long March. This meeting involved a power struggle between the leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun and the opposition led by Mao Zedong. The result was that Mao left the meeting in position to take over military command and become the leader of the Communist Party. The conference was completely unacknowledged until the 1950s and still no detailed descriptions were available until the fiftieth anniversary in 1985.
Gao Gang was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader during the Chinese Civil War and the early years of the People's Republic of China (PRC) before he became the victim of the first major purge within the party since before 1949. The events surrounding Gao's purge,the so-called "Gao Gang Affair",are still the subject of debate:a limited amount of research has been done on the topic,partly because of the relatively small amount of information available.
Li Desheng was a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He was born in Xin County,Henan,China,an area now known as the "Cradle of Generals" for the large number of senior military officers born in the region. He joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army at the age of 14,in 1930,the Communist Youth League in 1931,and the Chinese Communist Party a year later. He attained the rank of major general in 1955,and general in 1988. The patterns of Li's advancement suggest that he was mentored by Chen Xilian,and that he was closely aligned with You Taizhong. Li Desheng served on the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party from 1969–1985,one of the most turbulent periods of the People's Republic. He died in Beijing on 8 May 2011.
The 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1956 to 1969. It was preceded by the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It held 12 plenary sessions in this period of 13 years. It was the longest serving central committee ever held by the Communist Party.
The 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1945 to 1956. It was a product of the convening of the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It held six plenary sessions in this 11-year period. It began in June 1945,before the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War,and the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. This committee would be succeeded by the 8th Central Committee.
The Central Case Examination Group was a special organization established in the People's Republic of China in 1966 under the aegis of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to persecute those accused of "anti-party activities". It was,in essence,an organization dedicated to political persecution of senior party leaders as well as ordinary functionaries. Initially conceptualized as a beachhead by Chairman Mao Zedong's most radical supporters to 'gather dirt' on opponents of the Cultural Revolution,it later began taking up cases against all manner of perceived political opponents irrespective of their ideological allegiance. Many of its early leaders,such as Jiang Qing,later themselves became the subject of persecution by the Group. The Group was compared by Cultural Revolution-era propagandist Wang Li to the Soviet Cheka,but he noted that the CCEG had even broader powers. Its leading members included nearly all of the members of the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) as well as Premier Zhou Enlai and the chief of Mao's security detail Wang Dongxing. The CCEG worked closely with the CRG during its investigations.
The 3rd plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was a pivotal meeting of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party held in Beijing,China,from December 18 to December 22,1978.
Lu Dingyi was a leader of the Chinese Communist Party. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China and before the Cultural Revolution,he was credited as one of the top officials in socialist culture.
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959,first-ranking vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from 1956 to 1966,and the chairman of the People's Republic of China,the head of state from 1959 to 1968. He was considered to be a possible successor to Mao Zedong,but was purged during the Cultural Revolution.
Ji Dengkui was a Chinese political figure during the Cultural Revolution. He was a member of the 10th and 11th Politburos of the Communist Party and was a protégéof Mao Zedong in Mao's later years. He served in a number of important government and military posts,including member of the Central Military Commission,Political Commissar of the Beijing Military Region,and Vice Premier of the State Council. After Mao's death in 1976,he supported Mao's designated successor,Hua Guofeng,in purging the Gang of Four. Two years later,Deng Xiaoping ousted Hua from his leadership position,and Ji,labelled the "Little Gang of Four" together with other prominent Hua supporters,was forced out of politics.
The 10th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in the Great Hall of the People,Beijing,between August 24 and 28,1973. 1,249 delegates represented the party's estimated 28 million members. It was preceded by the 9th National Congress and was succeeded by the 11th National Congress.
The Seven-Thousand Cadres Conference was one of the largest work conferences ever of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It took place in Beijing,China,from 11 January to 7 February 1962. The conference was attended by over 7,000 party officials nationwide,focusing on the issues of the Great Leap Forward which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions in the Great Chinese Famine. CCP chairman Mao Zedong made self-criticism during the conference,after which he took a semi-retired role,leaving future responsibilities to Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.
The Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China is a 1981 document which assesses the legacy of the Mao Zedong era and the party's priorities moving forward. It was unanimously adopted by the sixth plenary session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on 27 June 1981.
