Jiang Qing, also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party and Paramount leader of China. She used the stage name Lan Ping (藍蘋) during her acting career, and was known by many other names. Jiang was best known for playing a major role in the Cultural Revolution and for forming the radical political alliance known as the Gang of Four.
Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone is an 18th-century Chinese novel authored by Cao Xueqin, considered to be one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is known for its psychological scope and its observation of the worldview, aesthetics, lifestyles, and social relations of High Qing China.
Lü Zhi, courtesy name E'xu (娥姁) and commonly known as Empress Lü and formally Empress Gao of Han, was the empress consort of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. They had two known children, Liu Ying and Princess Yuan of Lu. Lü was the first woman to assume the title Empress of China and paramount power. After Gaozu's death, she was honoured as empress dowager and regent during the short reigns of Emperor Hui and his successors Emperor Qianshao of Han and Liu Hong.
Zhang Guotao was a Chinese revolutionary who was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Comintern, organizing the CCP labor movement in the United Front with the Kuomintang. From 1931 to 1932, after the Party had been driven from the cities, Zhang was placed in charge of the Eyuwan Soviet. When his armies were driven from the region, he joined the Long March but lost a contentious struggle for party leadership to Mao Zedong. Zhang's armies then took a different route from Mao's and were badly beaten by local Muslim Ma clique forces in Gansu. When his depleted forces finally arrived to join Mao in Yan'an, Zhang continued his losing challenge to Mao, and left the party in 1938. Zhang eventually retired to Canada, in 1968. He became a Christian shortly before his death in Scarborough, Ontario, in 1979. His memoirs provide valuable and vivid information on his life and party history.
Jung Chang is a Chinese-born British author. She is best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China. Her 832-page biography of Mao Zedong, Mao: The Unknown Story, written with her husband, the Irish historian Jon Halliday, was published in June 2005.
Sima Shi, courtesy name Ziyuan, was a military general and regent of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. In 249, he assisted his father Sima Yi in overthrowing the emperor Cao Fang's regent Cao Shuang, allowing the Sima family to become paramount authority in the state, and he inherited his father's authority after his father's death in 251. He maintained a tight grip on the political scene and, when the emperor, Cao Fang, considered action against him in 254, had him deposed and replaced with his cousin, Cao Mao. This tight grip eventually allowed him to, at the time of his death in 255 after just having quelled a rebellion, transition his power to his younger brother, Sima Zhao, whose son Sima Yan eventually usurped the throne and established the Jin dynasty.
Mao: The Unknown Story is a 2005 biography of the Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976) that was written by the husband-and-wife team of the writer Jung Chang and the historian Jon Halliday, who detail Mao's early life, his introduction to the Chinese Communist Party, and his political career. The book summarizes Mao's transition from a rebel against the autocratic Kuomintang government to the totalitarian dictator over the People's Republic of China. Chang and Halliday heavily cover Mao's role in the planning and the execution of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. They open the book saying "Mao Tse-tung, who for decades held absolute power over the lives of one-quarter of the world's population, was responsible for well over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than any other twentieth-century leader.
Qin Bangxian better known by his alias Bo Gu, 14 May 1907 – 8 April 1946) was a Chinese senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the 28 Bolsheviks.
Luo Yixiu, a Han Chinese woman, was the first wife of the later Chinese communist revolutionary and political leader Mao Zedong, to whom she was married from 1908 until her death. Coming from the area around Shaoshan, Hunan, in south central China – the same region as Mao – her family were impoverished local landowners.
Lin Liheng, commonly known by her nickname Lin Doudou, is the daughter of Chinese marshal Lin Biao and his second wife Ye Qun. As the child of a prominent Chinese military and political leader, Lin was given minor but important positions during her youth. During the Cultural Revolution, she served as the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. However, following her father's death and subsequent denouncement by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1971, Lin was stripped of her positions and detained indefinitely.
Love At First Fight is a 2007 Chinese martial arts and romantic comedy television series, starring Hong Kong actress singer Miriam Yeung, Taiwanese actor singer Wallace Huo, American-born-Taiwanese actor George Hu, Chinese actress Alina Zhang, Michelle Bai and actor Jia Nailiang. Filmed in the summer of 2006 at Qingsheng Studios located in Shanghai, China. The drama was also dubbed in Cantonese for the Hong Kong market. It began airing on Chinese channel Haikou 海口電視台 HKBTV in 2007 and aired on Taiwanese channel FTV in 2008. The story is set in early Republic China era, where the main character Wu Shi Lang has to tackle friendship, dreams, family relationship, and first love with a gender twist.
Palace II is a 2012 Chinese television series written and produced by Yu Zheng and directed by Lee Wai-chu. It is a sequel to the 2011 television series Palace. The series was first broadcast on HBS in China from 20 January to 8 February 2012. It was followed by Palace 3: The Lost Daughter (宫锁连城), and the film The Palace , otherwise known as The Palace: Lock Sinensis (宫锁沉香).
Sound of the Desert is a 2014 Chinese television series based on the historical romance novel Ballad of the Desert by Tong Hua. It stars Liu Shishi, Eddie Peng and Hu Ge. The series aired on Hunan TV from 1 October to 27 November 2014.
The Legend of Mi Yue (Chinese: 羋月傳; pinyin: Mǐ Yuè Zhuàn; Wade–Giles: Mi3 Yüeh4 Chuan4) is a 2015 Chinese television series directed by Zheng Xiaolong and based on Jiang Shengnan's eponymous historical novel. It stars Sun Li in the title role of Mi Yue. The series aired 2 episodes daily on Beijing TV and Dragon TV from 30 November 2015 to 9 January 2016.
Dream of the Red Chamber is an English-language opera in two acts composed by Chinese American composer Bright Sheng, with libretto by Sheng and David Henry Hwang. Based on the classic 18th-century Chinese novel of the same name by Cao Xueqin, the three-hour English-language opera had its world premiere on September 10, 2016, by the San Francisco Opera. The opera was reprised by the San Francisco Opera in June 2022.
The King's Woman is a 2017 Chinese television series starring Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang. It is adapted from the novel The Legend of Qin: Li Ji Story (秦时明月之丽姬传). The series aired on Zhejiang TV every Monday to Wednesday, from 14 August to 4 October 2017.
The Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, also called the Eight Beauties of Jinling, were eight famous Yiji or Geji during the Ming-Qing transition period who resided along the Qinhuai River in Nankin. As well as possessing great beauty, they were all skilled in literature, poetry, fine arts, dancing and music.
Court Lady is a 2021 Chinese television series produced by Yu Zheng, starring Xu Kai and Li Yitong.
Chen Bilan was a Chinese communist. Chen was one of the founders of the Chinese Trotskyist movement and was exiled in 1948. For the rest of her life, she was a leader of the exiled Chinese Trotskyists and a member of the Fourth International.
