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48-687: In January 1965, at a meeting of the Politburo , Mao Zedong called on the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to implement a "Cultural Revolution" in China. (The Oxford English Dictionary traces the English-language phrase "cultural revolution" (defined as "a sudden change in the culture of a people or society") as far back as 1929.) The meeting established a body known as the "Five Man Group" (chaired by Peng Zhen ,

96-725: A central institution. The Central Case Examination Group was founded at roughly the same time as the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG). The CRG was essentially "command central" of the Cultural Revolution. However, unlike the CRG, the CCEG was to operate throughout the entire of the Cultural Revolution decade and beyond, investigating and reporting on the purported crimes of many of the members of

144-471: A month. The Politburo holds regular study sessions which serve as an opportunity for CCP leadership to promote new policies. The CCP almost always releases a readout to summarize the outcomes of Politburo meetings and, since 2002, these sessions have been widely publicized. Frequently, they address foreign affairs . The General Secretary of the Central Committee is responsible for convening

192-533: A political one (a move which Mao had started encouraging). Unhappy over what he perceived to be an obstruction of the course of the Cultural Revolution, Mao returned to the capital in the spring of 1966, and the CCP Central Committee formally announced the dissolution of the "Five Man Group" in its May 16 Circular : The Central Committee has decided to... dissolve the 'Group of Five in Charge of

240-685: A series of informal straw polls to determine the group's level of support for each new candidate's membership in the Politburo. The process for selecting the new Politburo begins with a closed door meeting by the incumbent Politburo Standing Committee in Beidaihe in the summer before the National Congress of the CCP convenes. The power of the Politburo resides largely in the fact that its members generally simultaneously hold positions within

288-782: A seventy-four page report to be considered by the Twelfth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the CCP that met in October 1968. It was at this plenum that Liu Shaoqi was officially expelled from the CCP. The CCEG's membership included most of the membership of the Cultural Revolution Group and Zhou Enlai , with Mao Zedong 's wife Jiang Qing taking a particularly active role in the building of cases against individuals. In addition, other members included Wang Dongxing and Ye Qun ,

336-586: A show of military force by other PLA units for Chen Zaidao to eventually surrender. The first two years of the Cultural Revolution witnessed a continued growth in tensions between the People's Liberation Army and the CRG, due to the PLA's gradual suppression of the CRG-backed rebel groups and Red Guards. By October 1967, the PLA had reached the peak of its ascendancy, which meant the end of the CRG. In November 1967,

384-739: The National People's Congress , the State Council and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference , there were six members each holding posts in the party, the national government, the regional governments, and three in the military. The average age of the 2017 Politburo's members was 62, which was similar to those in recent decades. Before that, the Party under Deng Xiaoping deliberately encouraged turnover by imposing term limits and retirement ages. In October 2017, at

432-467: The People's Republic of China state positions and with the control over personnel appointments that the Politburo and Secretariat have. In addition, some Politburo members hold powerful regional positions. How the Politburo works internally is unclear, but it appears that the full Politburo meets once a month and the standing committee meets weekly. This is believed to be much less frequent than meetings of

480-484: The anti-corruption campaign under Xi . The process was officially replaced with a method of "face-to-face interviews, investigation and study". In 2001, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party published the 2001-2005 National Plan for Cadre Training elevating the importance of cadre training for Chinese economic reform . The salaries of staff in party schools were brought in line with

528-683: The CCP Politburo is further centralized in the Politburo Standing Committee , a group of 7 individuals from among the larger Politburo. The Politburo is elected by the Central Committee. In practice, however, scholars of Chinese elite politics believe that the Politburo is a self-perpetuating body, with new members of both the Politburo and its Standing Committee chosen through a series of deliberations by current Politburo members and retired Politburo Standing Committee members. The current and former Politburo members conduct

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576-562: The CRG acted as a body that directed the course the movement should take. Due to Mao's backing of the group, its orders were of significant importance. For example, after the Wuhan Incident , Jiang Qing suggested in a speech that the Red Guards should 'defend with weapons', leading to a surge in the seizure of PLA armaments by rebel groups. In addition, Wang Li and other CRG radicals (taking their cue from Jiang Qing) called for

624-548: The CRG during its investigations. The precursor to the CCEG was the Special Case Examination Committee, an organ established by the Politburo in May 1966 to investigate the political offences of Peng Zhen , Luo Ruiqing , Lu Dingyi and Yang Shangkun . When it was found that there was a need for analysis of other cases, the committee was retained under a new name, and soon achieved a permanence as

672-420: The CRG's meetings - that task fell to Zhou Enlai , who held a position of control over the group, and could speak on behalf of the entire group without needing to consult it. The mandate given to the CRG on its formation was to guide the Cultural Revolution, and it was given many of the powers and the political prestige of the Central Committee and the Politburo. For example, when the order, on 5 September 1967,

720-566: 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

768-673: The Communist Party of China The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party , officially the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , is the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party . Currently, the bureau is a group of 24 top officials who oversee the party and central government. The politburo is headed by a general secretary . Unlike politburos of other communist parties , power within

816-506: The Cultural Revolution itself ended. In 1970, the group started to examine the case against Chen Boda , who was one of the staunchest proponents of the Cultural Revolution but by this point had fallen from political favour, and in 1971 the CCEG also began to investigate Lin Biao. In 1975, in an effort to bring the Cultural Revolution to a close, Mao ordered that the CCEG conclude its major cases swiftly and release of some prisoners. This led to

864-464: The Cultural Revolution since February 1967, and that others (like the CRG) who were still committed to the original aims of the movement remained exposed on the left-wing while Mao moved towards the centre. Comparably, they were now far enough on the left to be considered too radical for comfort. In September, some of the CRG radicals including Wang Li and Guan Feng were arrested on the orders of Mao, but by

912-446: The Cultural Revolution to cause the anarchy and was plotting to seize power. Although there is evidence that Wang Li and others formed a faction within the CRG that employed the term "May Sixteenth", and that the CRG did exploit divisions in the movement, there is little evidence known to suggest a plot to seize power. The fall of the CRG has also been attributed by some to the fact that Mao had become increasingly moderate in his view of

960-553: The Cultural Revolution', and to set up a new Cultural Revolution group directly under the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. The "Five Man Group" was dissolved immediately and Peng Zhen faced charges of allegedly obstructing the course of the Cultural Revolution. Soon after May 16 he was dismissed from all his offices and the control of the capital passed into the hands of followers of Mao. Chen Boda

1008-550: The Eighth Central Committee in October 1968, where Liu Shaoqi was officially expelled from the CCP. The group was never formally dissolved, but ceased to exist at some point after the CCP's Ninth Congress in the Spring of 1969. The CRG's remaining former members - including Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng - were left to fight their individual political battles in the years that followed. Politburo of

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1056-553: The First Plenary Session of the 19th CCP Central Committee , it was decided that all Politburo members shall make an annual written presentation to the Central Committee and the General Secretary. In March 2018, all Standing Committee members and members of the Politburo made their first written presentation to the Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping . Since the 17th National Congress ,

1104-529: The Group exists, we will never become a democratic society based on rule of law. If not handled well, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection may be at risk of becoming a bigger version of the CCEG." — Wang Li , as quoted in the memoirs of Deng Liqun The CCEG was responsible to the Politburo Standing Committee , and wielded significant power in the realm of public security. It took

1152-404: The Group's radical party journal, Red Flag , was ordered to stop publication. In addition, the leading members of the CRG quickly became scapegoats for the problems of the summer of 1967, when armed conflict between rebel groups, other groups and the PLA had been the norm. Individuals including Wang Li were soon connected with the "May Sixteenth Corps", a supposed group that exploited divisions in

1200-711: The Shanghai Commune was to last less than a month. Despite the CRG's 1967 orders forbidding violence, in July 1967 the city of Wuhan became a battleground for two large rival rebel groups - the Million Heroes and the Wuhan Workers' General Headquarters (WWGH). The 400,000 strong WWGH was besieged by the Million Heroes , who were being supplied with weapons and manpower by the local PLA commander Chen Zaidao . When Chen ignored Zhou Enlai's orders that

1248-464: The cases from the initial phases of the Cultural Revolution, including cases surrounding Peng Zhen and his supporters. The Second Office, led by Yang Chengwu and (following Yang's demise in March 1968) General Huang Yongsheng , was solely concerned with the cases of members of the military. It took over several cases of senior PLA soldiers, including that of Marshal He Long . In 1968, a Third Office

1296-506: The decisions to arrest, torture and imprison suspected 'revisionist' elements. For example, at the time of Twelfth Plenum in October 1968, 88 fully fledged or 'alternate' members of the CC were under CCEG investigation. By the autumn of 1967, the CCEG had become too large an operation for its existing structure, and so the group was subdivided into a First Office and a Second Office. The First Office, led by Wang Dongxing , took responsibility for

1344-403: The end of the Cultural Revolution the new drive to eradicate 'ultra-leftists' would see the arrest of nearly all of the CRG's members (Jiang Qing would survive until the death of Mao). After the 1967 arrest of some of its leading members, the CRG continued to play a role in the Cultural Revolution, but this was limited. For example, the remaining members were asked to attend the Twelfth Plenum of

1392-608: The entire Diaoyutai compound in Beijing to use at its offices. All documents from Mao were sent for approval to the CRG (as well as Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai), while other members of the Politburo Standing Committee were not sent these documents. Gradually, through examples like this, the CRG began to overtake the PSC in its political stature and importance. Throughout the early years of the Cultural Revolution,

1440-469: The fifth-ranking member of the Politburo), with the aim of overseeing the beginnings of the Cultural Revolution . Of the members of the group, only Kang Sheng was a supporter of Mao. However, the group remained relatively inactive until the spring of 1966, when it censored the writings of Yao Wenyuan and of other radicals for making an academic debate on the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office into

1488-480: The former Soviet Politburo . The agenda for the meetings is controlled by the CCP general secretary and decisions are made by consensus rather than by majority vote. The Politburo was eclipsed by the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party in the early 1980s under Hu Yaobang , but has re-emerged as a dominant force after Hu's ousting in 1987. Since the 1990s, Politburo members concurrently held posts in

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1536-409: The higher echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and all people considered to be counterrevolutionary . The group's highest profile case was that of Chinese President Liu Shaoqi , whose case was reportedly investigated by 400,000 people (including some Red Guards from Peking University), looking at over four million files. The findings of the CCEG on President Liu Shaoqi were compiled into

1584-701: The important events of the Cultural Revolution, the Shanghai Commune and the Wuhan Incident. Two members of the CRG played a significant part in the affair over the Shanghai Commune. Due to his connections with the city (he had been secretary of the Shanghai Party Committee until July 1966), Zhang Chunqiao was dispatched from the centre in November 1966 to mediate the crisis over the siege of some worker's groups at Anting. Early in January

1632-410: The meetings of the PSC and decides their agenda. The 20th Politburo was elected at the first plenary session of the 20th Central Committee in October 2022. Central Case Examination Group The Central Case Examination Group ( Chinese : 中央专案组 ; CCEG ) was a special organization established in the People's Republic of China in 1966 under the aegis of the Politburo Standing Committee of

1680-475: The next year, Zhang Chunqiao was to return again to Shanghai with his CRG colleague Yao Wenyuan to lead the new order established after the fall of the old Party apparatus, and in early February he was to become head of the newly formed Shanghai Commune. However, the combination of questions over the legitimacy of the Commune's leadership, and a change in attitudes to communes in general at the centre, meant that

1728-585: The official way of electing the Politburo was through a process called "democratic recommendation" ( 民主推荐 ) where the CCP conducted a straw poll of 200 candidates to the Politburo, which were factored into the final list of candidates presented at the National Congress of the CCP. However, this was abolished in the 19th National Congress under Xi, which denounced the "vote buying" and the "voting based on personal connections and favors" of this method, particularly in connection to politicians who fell after

1776-433: The party apparatus, in state posts, and as regional party chiefs. Some are party secretaries of important provinces or municipalities. In addition, members serving in the military and security sectors have been limited to 3 posts. In contrast, most members in the 1980s had a military command background. In 2017, for the 19th Central Committee Politburo, aside from the heads of the four main institutional hierarchies—the CCP,

1824-494: The release of around 300 prisoners in the middle of 1975. The last case assigned to the CCEG was the case of the ' Gang of Four '. Jiang Qing, once an active member of the CCEG, came under investigation by the very apparatus she had been involved in. After completing its analysis of the 'Gang of Four' case, the Central Case Examination Group was formally dissolved after thirteen years of operation at

1872-454: The removal of 'revisionist' elements in the PLA. The radical CRG, however, often found it had to contend with the more conservative view of how the Cultural Revolution should progress promoted by Zhou Enlai and his supporters, who were as interested in stability and the maintenance of some form of government as they were in revolution. The CRG also had several supplementary functions. Its Art and Literature Group, headed by Jiang Qing, took over

1920-585: The responsibilities of the Ministry of Culture when the latter was dissolved in May 1967. Furthermore, the group worked closely with the Central Case Examination Group (CCEG), an organisation established in 1966 that investigated the alleged crimes and errors of higher-ranking members of the Party. Practically all the members of the CRG were also members of the CCEG. The members of the CRG also had important individual roles in two of

1968-543: The salaries paid in regular Chinese universities. Teaching, research, and information technology was modernized to enable distance education throughout the party school system. Modern cadre training focuses on quality and ability . Students are trained in ideological orthodoxy, submitting to Leninism and party discipline. The young cadre is trained in applying their knowledge creatively and independently, so as to deal flexibly with complex issues and accept continuous learning. The initiative for cadre training after 2002

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2016-461: The siege was to be lifted, Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi were dispatched to Wuhan to resolve the crisis. On 19 July the pair instructed the PLA to switch its support from the Million Heroes to the WWGH. In the early hours of the next day however, Xie Fuzhi was arrested by the PLA while Wang Li was kidnapped by the Million Heroes and beaten. After a failed attempt by Zhou Enlai to resolve the crisis, it took

2064-463: 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

2112-418: The wife of Lin Biao . "The Case Examination Group was a horrible, harmful institution... it had unlimited powers and it answered to no one. The group could choose to purge whomever it wanted, and had the power to throw people in prison; it even dictated how long the prison term was... the Group must be buried forever... it had strong autocratic tendencies and operated on the whims of the individual. So long as

2160-816: Was buttressed by the Central Party School, and the regional party schools, including the Party Schools in Shanghai and Shenzhen . The Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee are the top decision-making institutions for the CCP Central Committee. According to the Party Constitution, the party's Central Committee elects the Politburo during a plenary session. Members of the Politburo are deputy-national-level leaders or more. The Politburo typically meets once

2208-464: Was established under Xie Fuzhi to investigate the May 16th Conspiracy, involving some members of the Cultural Revolution Group. The Third Office would later take on other cases of conspiracy groups. Although there were suggestions that the CCEG should be dissolved at the same time as the Cultural Revolution Group, in 1969, it was retained as an institution for the remainder of the Cultural Revolution decade, continuing its investigative role until after

2256-554: Was issued instructing the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to restore order to China, it was signed by the CRG as well as the Central Committee, the State Council and the Military Affairs Commission. In addition, the CRG had theoretical control over the People's Liberation Army, although very soon army commanders wielded enough political power to often act independently of the CRG. The CRG was also given

2304-539: Was selected by Chairman Mao to head the newly formed "Cultural Revolution Group", which would report to the Politburo Standing Committee. Consisting originally of between fifteen and twenty people, the CRG included, amongst others, Jiang Qing (the wife of Chairman Mao) as vice-chairman, Kang Sheng as the Group Adviser, Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Chunqiao , Qi Benyu , Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi . There were also several less well-known members. However, Chen Boda did not chair

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