Lin Boqu ( Chinese : 林伯渠 ; Pinyin : Lín Bóqú ; Wade-Giles : Lin Po-ch'u ; March 20, 1886 – May 29, 1960) was a Chinese politician and poet. An early supporter of Sun Yat-sen and member of the Tongmenghui , as well as a later participant in the Nanchang Uprising and the Long March , Lin came to be seen as one of the elder statesmen of the Chinese Communist Party .
167-811: On October 1, 1949, Lin presided over the Communist Party's victory ceremony in Tiananmen Square, and stood on the right-hand side of Mao Zedong as he proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China. Lin Boqu, born Lin Zuhan (林祖涵), was raised in a rural family in a village near Changde , Hunan , and received a state grant to study in Tokyo at the age of 16. There, he joined the Tongmenghui,
334-552: A "political consciousness" from Zheng Guanying 's booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of representative democracy . Mao also read translations of works by Western authors including Adam Smith , Montesquieu , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Charles Darwin , and Thomas Huxley . Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte . His political views were shaped by Gelaohui -led protests which erupted following
501-605: A "traitor to the nation", on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin. Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, Zhang Xueliang , in Xi'an , leading to the Xi'an Incident ; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with
668-609: A CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CCP and removed Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors. They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the " 28 Bolsheviks ", two of whom, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian , took control of
835-553: A Cultural Book Society which opened a bookstore to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan. He was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, in the hope that a Hunanese constitution would increase civil liberties and make his revolutionary activity easier. When the movement was successful in establishing provincial autonomy under a new warlord, Mao forgot his involvement. By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Jinan; it
1002-475: A balanced mix of economic planners. In 1982 Chen Yun, who was 77 years old, stepped down from the Politburo and Central Committee and served as Chairman of the new Central Advisory Commission , an institution set up to provide a place for leadership of the founding generation to remain involved in public affairs. During the 1980s, Chen was very much involved in policy discussions. In the beginning and as one of
1169-619: A base. Wandering the countryside, Mao's forces came across a CCP regiment led by General Zhu De and Lin Biao ; they united, and attempted to retake Jinggangshan. They were initially successful, but the KMT counter-attacked, and pushed the CCP back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains. The Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, and remained at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, and led his armies away. Mao's troops fended
1336-654: A central plan. Chen proposed that a balance should be found between "setting the bird free" and choking the bird with a central plan that was too restrictive; this theory would later become a focal point of criticism against Chen during the Cultural Revolution. His only public appearance during this time was a photograph of him published on the front page of the People's Daily and other major newspapers on May 1, 1962, showing Chen shaking hands with Chairman Mao, while Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De , and Deng Xiaoping (the entire inner core of leadership of that time, with
1503-468: A famine in Changsha , the capital of Hunan; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders. The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. He disapproved of their actions as morally wrong, but claimed sympathy for their situation. At age 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan, where he
1670-414: A force of around 1,800 troops. He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he moulded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force. 敵進我退， 敵駐我騷， 敵疲我打， 敵退我追。 When the enemy advances, we retreat. When the enemy rests, we harass him. When
1837-571: A general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji. Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang. Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, Karl Kautsky , and Marx and Engels—notably The Communist Manifesto —he came under their increasing influence, but
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#17327650575202004-587: A great goal. His father saw no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, cut off his allowance and forced him to move into a hostel for the destitute. Mao wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the First Normal School of Hunan , widely seen as the best in Hunan. Befriending Mao, professor Yang Changji urged him to read a radical newspaper, New Youth ( Xin qingnian ),
2171-717: A guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in Shaanxi , Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT. From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to Loushan Pass , where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed
2338-726: A job as assistant to the university librarian Li Dazhao , who would become an early Chinese Communist. Li authored a series of New Youth articles on the October Revolution in Russia, during which the Communist Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of Marxism , first developed by the German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , and Li's articles added Marxism to
2505-741: A librarian at Peking University , and in 1921 was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party. After the start of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and CCP in 1927, Mao led the failed Autumn Harvest Uprising and founded the Jiangxi Soviet . He helped establish the Chinese Red Army and developed a strategy of guerilla warfare . In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during
2672-457: A milder line against dissidents. If "Lin Biao and the Gang of Four; that is, the radical leftists" had been able to assure the people food and clothing, he said, they would not have been so easy to overthrow. In July, Chen developed these themes in another exposition (which also included some sarcastic observations on the late Chairman's taste in literature). Chen said: "We say the old dynasties and
2839-626: A prominent role as a younger organizer in the labor movement during the early and mid-1920s, joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924. Following the May Thirtieth Movement of 1925, Chen was an important organizer under Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi . For a time, Zhou and Yun resided at a Church of Christ in Changting which was the site of a revolutionary committee. After Chiang Kai-shek turned against
3006-536: A school essay. As a symbol of rebellion against the Manchu monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their queue pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor. Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution . Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control. Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier , but
3173-759: A soldier. Around this time, Mao discovered socialism from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by Jiang Kanghu , the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea. Over the next few years, Mao Zedong enrolled and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run Changsha Middle School . Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of classical liberalism such as Adam Smith 's The Wealth of Nations and Montesquieu 's The Spirit of
3340-782: A supposed plan preparing against the eventuality of an invasion by the Soviet Union with whom China had a serious split . Chen was put to work in a factory in Nanchang in Jiangxi province, where he stayed for three years. In January 1975, he was elected to the Standing Committee of China's legislature, the National People's Congress . Following the death of Mao in September 1976 and the coup d'état against
3507-485: A team to draft the first Five-Year Plan which included Chen, Bo Yibo , Li Fuchun and General Nie Rongzhen . Zhou, Chen and Li presented the draft to Soviet experts in Moscow, who rejected it. In early 1953, Gao Gang and the State Planning Commission began work on what would eventually become the final version. After Gao's fall, Chen Yun, Bo Yibo, Li Fuchuan and (later) Li Xiannian would manage
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#17327650575203674-572: Is central to the redefinition of the role of the Party in Jiang Zemin's Three Represents . In 2005, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Chen's birth, the Party press published, over the course of several weeks, the proceedings of a symposium discussing Chen's contributions to CCP history, theory and practice. Although Chen opposed the Mao regime and opposed some of Deng's later policies, Chen
3841-647: Is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. His policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims of starvation, persecution, prison labour , and mass executions, and his regime has been described as totalitarian . He has been also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy. Under Mao, China's population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million. Within China, he
4008-622: Is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling Mao Tse-tung continues to be used in modern publications to some extent. Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893, near Shaoshan village in Hunan . His father, Mao Yichang , was a formerly impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Growing up in rural Hunan, Mao described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings,
4175-523: Is revered as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation. He became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within the international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organisations. During Mao's lifetime, the English-language media universally rendered his name as Mao Tse-tung, using the Wade–Giles system of transliteration though with
4342-733: The Autumn Harvest Uprising , in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to
4509-547: The Five Elders of Yan'an (Chinese: 延安五老 ), along with Dong Biwu , Xu Teli , Wu Yuzhang , and Xie Juezai . Due to his seniority and early allegiance to Sun Yat-sen, Lin was often drawn upon as a resource for diplomatic needs with the Kuomintang. In 1936, he assisted Zhou Enlai in the negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek during the Xi'an Incident , and in the alliance that followed generally helped to facilitate
4676-510: The Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'anmen) on 1 October 1949, and later that week declared "The Chinese people have stood up" ( 中国人民从此站起来了 ). Mao went to Moscow for talks in the winter of 1949–50. Mao initiated the talks which focused on the political and economic revolution in China, foreign policy, railways, naval bases, and Soviet economic and technical aid. The resulting treaty reflected Stalin's dominance and his willingness to help Mao. Following
4843-598: The Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi . 革命不是請客吃飯，不是做文章，不是繪畫繡花，不能那樣雅緻，那樣從容不迫，文質彬彬，那樣溫良恭讓。革命是暴動，是一個階級推翻一個階級的暴烈的行動。 Revolution is not a dinner party , nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. — Mao, February 1927 The CCP Central Committee, hiding in Shanghai, expelled Mao from their ranks and from
5010-471: The KMT 'ruled' the country, but talk instead of the 'leadership' of the Communist Party. But the Party is in fact a ruling party, and if it wishes to keep its position it must also keep the support of the people. It should not float above the masses but should live among them as their servants. Both the welfare of the people and the Party's ruling position require that the Party shrink the distance between itself and
5177-788: The Korean War , and began the Hundred Flowers and Anti-Rightist Campaigns . In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward , which aimed to transform China's economy from agrarian to industrial ; it resulted in Great Chinese Famine . In 1966, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution , a campaign to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements, marked by violent class struggle , destruction of historical artifacts, and Mao's cult of personality . From
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5344-467: The Kuomintang ). Returning to China again, he joined the Communist Party in 1921. Throughout the first half of the 1920s, Lin continued working with the Kuomintang in different capacities, most significantly as Minister of Agriculture. Eventually shifting his allegiances to the communists, he took part in the Nanchang Uprising in 1927. Shortly afterwards, he left China for a six-year stay in
5511-819: The Long March . Although the CCP allied with the KMT under the Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War , China's civil war resumed after Japan's surrender in 1945; Mao's forces defeated the Nationalist government , which withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the PRC , a one-party state controlled by the CCP. He initiated campaigns of land redistribution and industrialisation , suppressed counter-revolutionaries , intervened in
5678-522: The People's Volunteer Army was sent into the Korean War and fight as well as to reinforce the armed forces of North Korea, the Korean People's Army , which had been in full retreat. The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as a result of its involvement in the Korean War , lasting until Richard Nixon 's improvements of relations. At least 180,000 Chinese troops died during
5845-724: The Treaty of Versailles , wherein Japan was allowed to receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by Germany . These demonstrations ignited the nationwide May Fourth Movement and fuelled the New Culture Movement which blamed China's diplomatic defeats on social and cultural backwardness. In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School and organising protests against
6012-638: The United Front against the Japanese. In February 1944, Lin traveled to Chongqing for negotiations with the Nationalist government, and in April 1949, he was again paired with Zhou Enlai for peace talks with Kuomintang general Zhang Zhizhong in Beijing. As the preparations for the formation of the People's Republic of China were underway in the latter half of 1949, Lin was appointed Secretary General of
6179-706: The Xiang River after heavy fighting, and then the Wu River , in Guizhou where they took Zunyi in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they held a conference ; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of the Politburo , and de facto leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin . Insisting that they operate as
6346-516: The Yan'an Soviet during October 1935 and settled in Bao'an , until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs. Mao now commanded 15,000 soldiers, boosted by the arrival of He Long 's men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet. In February 1936, they established
6513-555: The chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1943 until his death, and as the party's de facto leader from 1935. His theories, which he advocated as a Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism , are known as Maoism . Mao was the son of a peasant in Shaoshan , Hunan . He was influenced early in his life by the events of the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement of 1919, supporting Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism . He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as
6680-534: The official portrait of the 1949 foundation ceremony , like Gao Gang and Liu Shaoqi before him. He was not restored to the painting until 1979. Lin was married four times and had eight children. One of his marriages was to Zhu Ming in May 1945. After Lin's death in 1960 she killed herself in 1961 following her identification as the author of an anonymous letter about Jiang Qing . His youngest son, Lin Yongsan (林用三),
6847-410: 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 (Liao Wenguang; 廖文光 ) family name when he was adopted by him after his parents died. A major Chinese Communist Party (CCP) political figure before the establishment of the PRC , Chen first joined the CCP Central Committee in 1931, and the Politburo in 1934. He became
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7014-405: The " Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign " organised in late 1983, to help safeguard China's political status quo and domestic stability. Chen Yun was widely admired and respected for striking a balance between excessive laissez faire capitalism and retaining state leadership in guiding China's market economy. Deng and Chen's reforms and foresight helped make generations of Chinese become richer since
7181-450: The " Red Army ", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General Zhu De was ordered to take the city of Nanchang on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the Nanchang Uprising . They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to Shantou , and from there they were driven into the wilderness of Fujian . Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in
7348-451: The "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were Edgar Snow , who used his experiences as a basis for Red Star Over China , and Agnes Smedley , whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause. On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, Jiang Qing . He Zizhen
7515-450: The Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui, who worked for women's rights, including literacy and educational issues, in the nearby peasant communities. Although Mao and Yang were not the originators of this political organizing method of combining labor organizing among male workers with a focus on women's rights issues in their communities, they were among the most effective at using this method. Mao's political organizing success in
7682-416: The Anyuan mines resulted in Chen Duxiu inviting him to become a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Mao claimed that he missed the July 1922 Second Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai because he lost the address. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined
7849-410: The CCP in 1927, Chen fled to his hometown, but soon returned to Shanghai and secretly continued his work as a labor unionist. Chen was one of the few Communist Party organizers from an urban working-class background; he worked underground as a union organizer in the late 1920s, participated in the Long March , and served on the Central Committee from 1931 to 1987. He was active throughout his career in
8016-459: The CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members. The CCP continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, a position Mao initially supported, but by the time of the CCP's Fifth Congress he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia. The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July. The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as
8183-504: The CCP. Likewise, the Soviet Union gave support to Mao by occupying north-eastern China , and secretly giving it to the Chinese communists in March 1946. In 1948, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying Changchun . At least 160,000 civilians are believed to have perished during the siege , which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, in his book White Snow, Red Blood , compared it to Hiroshima : "The casualties were about
8350-446: The Central Committee. In addition to land redistribution, Mao promoted literacy and non-hierarchical organizational relationships in Jinggangshan, transforming the area's social and economic life and attracted many local supporters. Mao proclaimed that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers, incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building
8517-454: The Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and he soon emerged as their key rival. In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control. In November, he suffered emotional trauma after his second wife Yang Kaihui and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general He Jian . Facing internal problems, members of
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#17327650575208684-431: The Central People's Government Committee. In that role, he presided over the founding ceremony of the new nation on October 1, 1949 - sometimes referred to as the "host" of the celebrations. After the foundation of the PRC, Lin took up a variety of positions, though preferred to stay out of the political limelight. In September 1954, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. In
8851-464: The Chinese economy for more than 30 years. During the 1950s and 1960s, Chen was a proponent of more market-oriented economic measures. Looking back, Chen would later believe that it was the Mao's errors that most kept China from achieving its Five-Year Plans. In 1956, when the 8th National Congress of Chinese Communist Party was held, Chen was elected a vice chairman of the Central Committee . Around that time, both Mao and Chen had come to believe that
9018-462: The Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai. At the First KMT Congress, held in Guangzhou in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for
9185-460: The Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese and returned to Jiangxi, where he initiated the fifth encirclement campaign , which involved the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, which was accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce. The leadership decided to evacuate. On 14 October 1934,
9352-400: The Communists, resulting in the formation of a United Front with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937. The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and Nanjing —resulting in the Nanjing Massacre , an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to Chongqing . The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and
9519-410: The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest wall with engraved arts in the world. Mao Zedong Mao Zedong (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) and led the country from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao also served as
9686-440: The Hunan Provincial Committee, as punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". The more orthodox Communists especially regarded the peasants as backward and ridiculed Mao's idea of mobilizing them. They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of workers' councils , the confiscation of all land without exemption, and
9853-452: The Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. In December, they tried to overthrow Mao, resulting in the Futian incident , during which Mao's loyalists tortured many and executed between 2000 and 3000 dissenters. The CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi which it saw as a secure area. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the Soviet Republic of China , an independent Communist-governed state. Although he
10020-457: The KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing the Min Mountains and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7,000–8,000 had survived. The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943. Mao's troops arrived at
10187-446: The KMT earned him the suspicion of Li Li-san, his Hunan comrade. In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan, perhaps to recuperate from an illness. He found that the peasantry were increasingly restless and some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes. This convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT leftists but not the Communists. Mao and many of his colleagues also proposed
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#173276505752010354-552: The KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. He reunited with the decimated Zhu's army, and together they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. There they were joined by a defecting KMT regiment and Peng Dehuai 's Fifth Red Army. In the mountainous area they were unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter. In 1928, Mao met and married He Zizhen , an 18-year-old revolutionary who would bear him six children. In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated
10521-411: The KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward. Mao enthusiastically agreed with this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes, and eventually rose to become propaganda chief of the KMT. Mao was a vocal anti-imperialist and in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, the UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen". At the Third Congress of
10688-510: The Laws , as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as Darwin , Mill , Rousseau , and Spencer . Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people. He was inspired by Friedrich Paulsen , a neo-Kantian philosopher and educator whose emphasis on the achievement of a carefully defined goal as the highest value led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for
10855-490: The Leap policies was now out of the question. China continued on its set course for another year or more, and by the end of 1960 had fallen deep into famine. Chen Yun was certainly in sympathy with Peng Dehuai's criticism of the Leap and joined forces with Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping to manage the economy in the post-Great Leap Forward period, which required deft handling of Chairman Mao's sensitivity to criticism. Chen retained his positions as Party vice chairman and member of
11022-401: The Long March he was one of the four Standing Committee members of the Political Bureau who attended the January 1935 Zunyi Conference . He left the Long March sometime in the spring of 1935, returning to Shanghai, and in September 1935 he went to Moscow, serving as one of the CCP's representatives to the Comintern sent by the Fifth Plenum Politburo, although he did not take part in the work of
11189-412: The Marxist-Leninist theory of vanguardism , Mao believed that only the correct leadership of the Communist Party could advance China into socialism. Conversely, Mao also believed that mass movements and mass criticism were necessary in order to check the bureaucracy. Mao pushed the Party to organise campaigns to reform society and extend control. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when
11356-405: The North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits. In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks. In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation. Western reporters also arrived in
11523-487: The PRC's first 50 years, as he was a central decision-maker for the CCP, serving on the Central Committee and Politburo for over 40 years. In the beginning, Chen supported Deng, carried out and implemented many of the influential reforms that made a generation of Chinese richer. But later, Chen realized that the state still needed an active iron hand involvement in the market to prevent the private sector from becoming untamable. Chen's criticism of Deng's later economic reforms
11690-406: The Politburo Standing Committee, along with both Deng Xiaoping and Li Xiannian. However, Chen succeeded Deng as the Chairman of the Central Advisory Committee. During Chen's term, the Central Advisory Committee has become a leading force of the conservative faction within the Chinese Communist Party. After the Tiananmen Square incident in June 1989, Chen Yun's influence grew within the party due to
11857-417: The Politburo and continued to express his opinions behind the scenes. In 1961 he conducted investigations of the rural areas around Shanghai. According to a Cultural Revolution attack on him by the radical group within the finance system, he reported the peasants as saying: "In the days of Chiang Kai-shek we had rice to eat. In the glorious era of Chairman Mao, we have only gruel." According to his obituary, Chen
12024-536: The Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with 85,000 soldiers and 15,000 party cadres and embarked on the " Long March ". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred. The 100,000 who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing
12191-621: The Red Army grew from 50,000 to 500,000. In August 1938, the Red Army formed the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army , which were nominally under the command of Chiang's National Revolutionary Army . In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the Hundred Regiments Offensive , in which 400,000 troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in
12358-677: The Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party. Mao graduated in June 1919, ranked third in the year. Mao moved to Beijing, where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University. Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome", securing him
12525-672: The Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi , a Qing dynasty Hunanese philosopher who had resisted the Manchus. He joined the YMCA Mass Education Movement to fight illiteracy, though he edited the textbooks to include radical sentiments. He continued organising workers to strike against
12692-668: The Soviet Union, where he studied at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University . He returned in late 1933, and became active in the Jiangxi Soviet , serving as Minister of Finance and presiding over the Council of Agriculture. After taking part in the Long March , he resumed his duties as Minister of Finance from Yan'an and was also elected Chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. In this period, Lin came to be known as one of
12859-524: The Three Kingdoms and Water Margin . At age 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father united him in an arranged marriage to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu , thereby uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910 at 20 years old. Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously and developed
13026-471: The U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called the Dixie Mission , to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area. In the end of
13193-513: The administration of Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti . Yet labour issues remained central. The successful and famous Anyuan coal mines strikes [ zh ] (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan and Mao not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives and engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and even church clergy. Mao's labour organizing work in
13360-405: The age of 89. He was cremated at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery . His official obituary described him as "a great proletarian revolutionary and statesman" and an "outstanding Marxist". Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal. Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man but flawed. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say? — Chen Yun Chen Yun
13527-494: The architects of Deng's reform and opening up policy. During the 1980s and the 1990s, Chen was regarded as the second-most powerful person in China after Deng and was later recognized as one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party . Initially a strong advocate for economic reforms, Chen increasingly became conservative towards the reforms as they progressed, becoming a key figure in slowing many reforms and becoming
13694-587: The base with 2,000 men and a further 800 provided by Peng, and took their armies south, to the area around Tonggu and Xinfeng in Jiangxi. The evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried Li Lisan and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as lumpenproletariat , that were unable to share in proletariat class consciousness . In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only
13861-426: The bird would fly away. Mao's idea, rather, was to devolve powers to provincial and local authorities, which were in practice Party committees rather than state technocrats, and to use mass mobilization rather than either a detailed central plan or the market to promote economic growth. Mao's program prevailed, and these policies converged with the rest of the ultimately disastrous Great Leap Forward . By early 1959,
14028-421: The bonuses were universal throughout the state sector and had the same economic effect as if the government had simply printed more money. Because Chinese farmers were not eligible for bonuses since they were not technically state employees, China's agricultural sector, which had prospered in the first stage of the reform, was especially damaged by inflation. Chen's theory had been that the market should supplement
14195-507: The boys Zemin and Zetan , as well as an adopted sister/cousin, Zejian . Mao's mother, Wen Qimei , was a devout Buddhist who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude. Mao too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years. At age 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of Confucianism , he later admitted that he did not enjoy the classical Chinese texts preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring classic novels like Romance of
14362-491: The circumflex accent in the syllable Tsê dropped. Due to its recognizability, the spelling was used widely, even by the PRC's foreign ministry after Hanyu Pinyin became the PRC's official romanisation system for Mandarin Chinese in 1958; the well-known booklet of Mao's political statements was officially entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in English translations. While the pinyin-derived spelling Mao Zedong
14529-430: The creation of his friend Chen Duxiu , a dean at Peking University . Although he was a supporter of Chinese nationalism , Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy. In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Zisheng ; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food. A popular student, in 1915 Mao
14696-452: The days of Mao's Cultural Revolution, as well as propel China into becoming one of the top economies in the world (number one by PPP and number two by nominal GDP). Chen was not, in principle, opposed to the scope of Deng's reforms; China's economic policy had effectively frozen consumer prices for decades, to the point that prices in China no longer had much relationship to the relative value of resources, goods, or services. Chen objected to
14863-524: The death of 20,000 Japanese, the disruption of railways and the loss of a coal mine. From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including Philosophy of Revolution , which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; Protracted Warfare , which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and On New Democracy , which laid forward ideas for China's future. In 1944,
15030-603: The death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of counter-revolutionary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice". In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in
15197-430: The defence of China against Japanese expansionism, the Red Army was able to expand its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million. Mao proceeded with his land reform program. In November 1931 he announced the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933. He also orchestrated education programs and implemented measures to increase female political participation. Chiang viewed
15364-611: The delegation because he was sent to the Stalingrad Tractor Factory as a punishment for his participation in the Luo Zhanglong faction. In 1937 Chen returned to China as an adviser to the Xinjiang leader Sheng Shicai . Chen later joined Mao in Yan'an , probably before the end of 1937. In November 1937 he became director of the Party's Organization Department, serving in that capacity until 1944, and by
15531-401: The doctrines in Chinese revolutionary movement. Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was initially influenced by Peter Kropotkin 's anarchism , which was the most prominent radical doctrine of the day. Chinese anarchists , such as Cai Yuanpei , Chancellor of Peking University, called for complete social revolution in social relations, family structure, and women's equality , rather than
15698-407: The early 1940s was in the inner circle of Mao's advisers. His writings on organization, ideology, and cadre training were included in the important study materials for the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942, a campaign of political persecutions which consolidated Mao's power within the Party. During this time, it is known that he protected some comrades accused of being Trotskyites, and criticized
15865-407: The early 1980s were, in effect, the implementation, finally, of the program Chen had outlined in the mid-1950s. Chen called this the "birdcage economy". According to Chen, "the cage is the plan, and it may be large or small. But within the cage the bird [the economy] is free to fly as he wishes." In 1981 a rival "Financial and Economic Leading Group" was established under Zhao Ziyang and staffed by
16032-513: The economic system (and, like Chen, one of the few real proletarians among the first generation of Party leaders), Chen stated that he was not necessarily opposed to everything about the SEZs. While Chen became the moral leader of the conservative opposition to Deng Xiaoping, he did not challenge Deng's personal primacy as head of regime. Although Zhao Ziyang's promotion of political and economic reform made Zhao one of Chen's main political rivals, Chen
16199-465: The economic system, modeled on that of the Soviet Union , was overly centralized, but had different ideas about what to do about it. Chen believed that markets should have a larger economic role but remain subject to a state-controlled plan. Chen used the metaphor of a caged bird to describe the socialist economy. If the cage was too small, the bird would not survive. If the cage was left open,
16366-541: The economy was already showing signs of strain. In January of that year, Chen Yun published an article calling for increased Soviet aid. In March, he published a subdued but general critique of the Leap, especially its reliance on the mass movement. Economic growth, he asserted, was not simply a matter of speed. It required attention to safe working conditions and quality engineering. It depended on technical skill, not just political awareness. Chen fell out of favor with Mao. In
16533-666: The end of cooperation with the KMT, which was rejected by the Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin . In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to Guangzhou after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities. There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute from May to September 1926. The Peasant Movement Training Institute under Mao trained cadre and prepared them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study basic left-wing texts. When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he
16700-435: The enemy avoids a battle, we attack. When the enemy retreats, we advance. — Mao's advice in combating the Kuomintang, 1928 In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. They reached Hunan, where they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without
16867-619: The exaggerations of the campaign in the Shandong base area. Chen's economic career began in 1942, when he was replaced by Ren Bishi as head of the CCP Organization Department. In his new position, Chen was assigned responsibility for the financial management of Northwest China. Two years later, he was identified as responsible for finance in the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region as well. He added Northeast China to his portfolio in 1946 (then under
17034-662: The exception of Lin Biao) look on. There was no caption or any other explanation. During the Cultural Revolution , Chen Yun was denounced in Red Guard publications but not in the official press. He was re-elected to the Central Committee in the Ninth Party Congress in April 1969 but not to the Politburo. He no longer held any functional positions. Later that year he was "evacuated" from Beijing, as were many other inactive or disgraced first-generation leaders, as part of
17201-420: The favor of Deng Xiaoping in order to promote reforms. In 1989, Chen, alongside Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng , and others, was among the Party elders responsible for making the key decisions concerning the student-led Tiananmen Square protests . There is no evidence that Chen indulged in diatribes against the students or actively advocated their violent repression. While Chen was opposed to the violent suppression of
17368-551: The field of economics, despite receiving no formal education after elementary school. He served on the Central Committee in the Third Plenary Session of 6th Central Committee of CCP in 1930 and became a member of the Politburo in 1934. In 1933 he evacuated to Ruijin , in Jiangxi province, the headquarters of the CCP's main "soviet" area. He was in overall charge of the Party's "white areas" work, that is, underground activities in places not under Party control. On
17535-433: The first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution. Mao was party secretary for Hunan stationed in Changsha, and to build the party there he followed a variety of tactics. In August 1921, he founded
17702-703: The growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement. In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing Wang Jingwei leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated
17869-513: The head of the CCP's Organization Department in 1937, and became one of CCP leader Mao Zedong 's close advisors. He played an important role in the Yan'an Rectification Movement of 1942, and started becoming responsible for economic affairs that year, ultimately heading the Central Finance and Economic Commission from 1949. After the establishment of the PRC, Chen was a key figure in moderating many of Mao's radical economic ideas. Chen
18036-631: The late 1950s, Mao's foreign policy was dominated by a political split with the Soviet Union , and during the 1970s he began establishing relations with the United States ; China was also involved in the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War . In 1976, Mao died after suffering a series of heart attacks . He was succeeded as leader by Hua Guofeng and in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping . The CCP's official evaluation of Mao's legacy both praises him and acknowledges he made errors in his later years. Mao
18203-403: The late Chairman's worries that China would abandon socialism and revert to capitalism. Chen was skeptical regarding the special economic zones (SEZ), viewing them as a non-socialist experiment. Chen viewed the development of a socialist market economy as unscientific and unrealistic. During the 1980s Chen emerged as the main figure among the more hard-line opponents of reform. He supported
18370-566: The leader of CCP's conservative factions. Chen resigned from the Central Committee in 1987 though keeping his influence as the chairman of the Central Advisory Committee until 1992, when he fully retired from politics. Chen was born in Qingpu , Jiangsu (now part of Shanghai ) in 1905. Chen was typesetter for the famous Commercial Press of Shanghai, which printed revolutionary books and even Protestant Bibles. He played
18537-508: The liberation of the Chinese people." Lin is buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing, along with other first-generation CCP leaders such as Zhu De , Ren Bishi , Peng Dehuai , and Chen Yun . Lin was posthumously purged during the Cultural Revolution for allegedly opposing the marriage between Mao and Jiang Qing during the Yan'an years. As a result, he was removed from his iconic spot in
18704-452: The liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage. In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism. During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions. In December 1919, Mao helped organise
18871-431: The major architects for the reform and opening up , he supported Deng and the liberal market reforms that had been so successful in agriculture to urban areas and the industrial sector. Moreover, he still posited for the state to retain an active role in market development and planning, a policy that would influence future generations of leadership, including Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi Jinping. He played an active role in
19038-427: The major reorientation of Chinese communism in the reform movement. Though Deng Xiaoping is credited as the architect of modern China's economic reforms, Chen Yun contributed much to the strategy adopted by Deng, and Chen was more directly involved in the details of its planning and construction. A key feature of the reform was to use the market to allocate resources, within the scope of an overall plan. The reforms of
19205-661: The majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution. His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of mutual aid . Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine New Hunan ( Xin Hunan ) and authored articles in popular local newspaper Ta Kung Pao . Several of these advocated feminist views, calling for
19372-453: The market. He was liberal in the beginning, but later more cautious and conservative, especially in his last years. He was widely admired by the Chinese populace, known for his wide-sweeping economic strategic planning, morality and incorruptibility. Chen's political perspective is generally viewed as reformist until about 1980, but conservative after about 1984. Chen Yun remains one of China's most powerful and influential leaders, especially in
19539-401: The mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with the Chinese Communist Party led to very little. After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the civil war and abandoned the idea of a coalition government which would include
19706-595: The mountain ranges around Ma'anshan ), and together proceeded to Maoerhkai and then Gansu . Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to retreat west to Tibet or Sikkim , far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with Zhu De joining Zhang. Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of kilometres of grasslands , an area of quagmire where they were attacked by Manchu tribesman and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease. Finally reaching Shaanxi, they fought off both
19873-476: The movement, however. At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. He joined the university's Philosophy and Journalism Societies and attended lectures and seminars by the likes of Chen Duxiu , Hu Shih , and Qian Xuantong . Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to Shanghai with friends who were preparing to leave for France. He did not return to Shaoshan, where his mother
20040-404: The new leadership followed a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so, the Red Army successfully defeated the first and second encirclements . Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation. He too faced setbacks and retreated to deal with the further Japanese incursions into China . As a result of the KMT's change of focus to
20207-422: The new opportunities to make a profit, encouraged official corruption. Chen Yun also fought against corruption and harshly cracked down corrupt officials. The government's first response to inflation was to issue bonuses to workers in state-owned enterprises, to help make up for the price increases. Chen Yun argued that, if there were to be such bonuses, they should be gauged to increased productivity. In practice,
20374-418: The overall leadership of General Lin Biao and Political Commissar Peng Zhen ). During the middle of the 1940s, Chen was a major contributor to the party's strategy of "economic warfare." Under this concept, reviving the economy in liberated areas was a major contribution to the revolutionary struggle. Chen argued that economic development and production were critical, explaining that "[o]nly if we can solve
20541-418: The people's loss of confidence in the Party. In April he criticized the luxurious life of Party leaders (including himself), and said if he had known in the period before the liberation what the past ten-some years would be like (that is, the Cultural Revolution period), he would have defected to Chiang Kai-shek. He deplored Mao's dictatorial ways and implied, although not very strongly, that the Party should take
20708-572: The people." The old dynasties, Chen said, knew the value of a policy of yielding or retreating from untenable positions. The Party has to be able to step back from its past practices: in economy, culture, education, science, and ideology. Without compromising the basic principle of socialism, Chen believed that the Party must accommodate, for the time being, co-existence with aspects of capitalism. But all of this, Chen added, must be done carefully: otherwise China would be in danger of abandoning socialism and restoring capitalism. These pronouncements presaged
20875-449: The personal than the political. Deng Xiaoping gave the following tribute, highlighting the breadth of Lin's experience as well as the depth of his contribution: "He [went] through three historical stages: the old democratic revolution led by the bourgeoisie, the new democratic revolution led by the proletariat, and the socialist revolution. In every stage of the revolution, he was a complete revolutionary and made an indelible contribution to
21042-493: The philosopher Wang Fuzhi . In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers. Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in World War I , and also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers. Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen , and with other young revolutionaries they formed
21209-411: The plan. In the context of radical Maoism this made him seem like a social democratic proponent of market socialism . It turned out, however, that Chen meant exactly what he had said. He was much less enthusiastic about the market than Deng Xiaoping and Deng's younger colleagues. Although in his "secret" pronouncements of 1979 Chen had shown an unusual personal disdain for Mao, he also indicated he shared
21376-608: The pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, Zhang Jingyao , popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule. In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia , organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, Xiang River Review . Using vernacular language that would be understandable to
21543-470: The problem of food and clothing for the masses can we become leaders of the masses. Thus, a revolutionary businessman is an outright revolutionary." A main challenge for the Communists during this period was driving out the Nationalist's competing currency and replacing it with the currencies used in the revolutionary base areas. Chen argued that the approach should rely on both economic and political mechanisms (as opposed to prohibition), including regulating
21710-579: The radical Gang of Four a month later, Chen became increasingly active in the country's political life. He and General Wang Zhen petitioned Party chairman Hua Guofeng to rehabilitate Deng Xiaoping at the March 1977 CCP CC Work Conference, but were turned down. After Deng was rehabilitated later that year, Chen led the attack on the Maoist era at the November–December 1978 CCP CC Work Conference, raising
21877-508: The regime. Chen laid the basis for Deng's "reform and opening" program. In July 1979, Chen Yun was named head (and Li Xiannian deputy head) of the new national Economic and Financial Commission staffed with his own allies and conservative economic planners. In April and July of that year he made further provocative statements in internal Party meetings, although their authenticity was denied (in an equivocal manner) by official spokesmen. In these Chen deplored China's lack of economic progress and
22044-556: The rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them. He established a base in Jinggangshan City , an area of the Jinggang Mountains, where he united five villages as a self-governing state, and supported the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, and pursued a more lenient approach than that advocated by
22211-614: The removal of reformists Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili from the Politburo Standing Committee. However, after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in early 1992, Chen Yun and the conservative faction's influence within the party waned significantly. In October 1992 at the age of 87, Chen retired from politics along with other party elders at the 14th Party Congress when the Central Advisory Committee was also abolished. Chen died in 12 April 1995, at
22378-588: The revolutionary group founded by Sun Yat-sen. After returning to China, Lin worked as a school teacher, before he was recruited to the Dongbei region for revolutionary work on behalf of the Tongmenghui. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Lin found himself persecuted by the Yuan Shikai regime, and was forced to escape to Japan, where he joined Sun Yat-sen's newly formed Chinese Revolutionary Party (later to become
22545-597: The river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the Jinsha River . Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the Tatu River , they managed it by fighting a battle over the Luding Bridge in May, taking Luding . In Moukung, Western Sichuan, they encountered the 50,000-strong CCP Fourth Front Army of Zhang Guotao (who had marched from
22712-416: The same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months." On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces. In the early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chongqing and Chengdu on mainland China , and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan. Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China from
22879-474: The sensitive "six issues": the purges of Bo Yibo, Tao Zhu , Wang Heshou and Peng Dehuai; the 1976 Tiananmen Incident ; and, Kang Sheng 's errors. Chen raised the six issues in order to undermine Hua and his leftist supporters. Chen's intervention tipped the balance in favor of movement toward an open repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping's promotion, in December 1978, to de facto head of
23046-594: The simple change in the form of government called for by earlier revolutionaries. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919. Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation". A number of his friends took advantage of the anarchist-organised Mouvement Travail-Études to study in France, but Mao declined, perhaps because of an inability to learn languages. Mao raised funds for
23213-533: The students, he gave his support to the military once the action had begun. Chen agreed that Zhao Ziyang should be replaced as the formal head of the Party, and he endorsed Li Xiannian's nomination of Jiang Zemin as the new Party General Secretary. After the 13th Party Congress in November 1987, Chen ended his 56 year–long political career as a member of the CCP Central Committee, also leaving
23380-826: The success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the Wuhan-based left KMT government and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the White Terror , massacring 5,000 with the aid of the Green Gang . In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin . That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and
23547-468: The summer of 1959 the Party convened a meeting at the resort town of Lushan to review the policies of the Leap. The Minister of Defense, Marshal Peng Dehuai , attacked the radicalism of the Leap, and Mao took this, or affected to take it, as an attack on himself and his authority. Mao responded with a vicious personal attack on Peng. Peng lost his military positions and the Party undertook a general purge of what Mao termed right opportunism . Further reform of
23714-419: The urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while he concurred with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army nor abandon his base. Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to world revolution , believing that
23881-506: The value of competing currencies and controlling trade in key commodities. Another Chen Yun's contribution to the early development of the Chinese economy was his stabilization of prices in Shanghai after the Nationalist government failed to curb the financial crisis caused by speculations of corporate monopolies. In May 1949, Chen Yun was named head of the new national Central Finance and Economic Commission. In early 1952, Zhou Enlai led
24048-403: The vigorous campaign in the early 1980s against the "three kinds of people", a general purge of all those who had been identified with radical factions during the Cultural Revolution. He made common cause with conservatives among other Party elders. During the reform era Chen refused to meet with foreigners. Chen never visited the new SEZs. In a memorial tribute to Li Xiannian, an old colleague from
24215-665: The villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 mou (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary. Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented. Fresh from
24382-420: The war. Chen Yun Chen Yun ( simplified Chinese : 陈云 ; traditional Chinese : 陳雲 ; pinyin : Chén Yún , pronounced [ʈʂʰə̌n y̌n] ; 13 June 1905 – 10 April 1995) 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
24549-529: The way in which the urban reforms were carried out. The immediate consequence of Deng's price reform was a sudden and massive inflation, unprecedented in the experience of the younger generation and particularly frightening to older folks who could still remember the rampant inflation in the last years of the Nationalist regime. The increasing circulation of money in the economy, together with a hybrid system in which those in official position or with official connections were particularly well-placed to take advantage of
24716-505: The years that followed, he undertook lengthy inspection tours of primarily rural provinces, beginning with his native Hunan and continuing to Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hubei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia. Lin died in a Beijing hospital on May 26, 1960. In a memorial poem, Marshal Chen Yi eulogized him as "a hero always upholding the correct line in his glorious revolutionary career." Lin's fellow "Yan'an Elder" Dong Biwu memorialized his friend in two poems following his passing, focusing more on
24883-521: Was a personal friend of Sun Yat-sen, and was with Dr. Sun when he died. Lin was an avid poet, composing prolifically throughout his life. According to the curator of his museum, he wrote over a thousand poems. His work has been published in Chinese as Lin Boqu Collection and Selected Poems of Lin Boqu . His poem "The Dream of Going Back Home" can be found prominently inscribed on the two-mile long Poetry Wall in his hometown of Changde, listed in
25050-651: Was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920. The Chinese Communist Party was founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the Shanghai French Concession in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and
25217-574: Was bullied for his peasant background. In 1911, Mao began middle school in Changsha . Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor Puyi 's absolute monarchy and many were advocating republicanism . The republicans' figurehead was Sun Yat-sen , an American-educated Christian who led the Tongmenghui society. In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, The People's Independence ( Minli bao ), and called for Sun to become president in
25384-526: Was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on 23 July 1921. The first session of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near Jiaxing , in Zhejiang, to escape detection. Although Soviet and Comintern delegates attended,
25551-619: Was elected secretary of the Students Society. He organised the Association for Student Self-Government and led protests against school rules. Mao published his first article in New Youth in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi ( Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she ), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate
25718-591: Was elected to the Eleventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 2008, and has served in a variety of government posts. Lin's daughter Lin Li studied with Zhou Enlai's adopted daughter Sun Weishi in Moscow, and was later imprisoned for seven years during the Cultural Revolution for supposed associations with Li Lisan . According to his niece, Lin
25885-474: Was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General Tan Yankai , a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao
26052-557: Was instrumental in China's economic reconstruction following the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1958–1960) along with Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai, advocating for a "bird cage" economy in which the market economy should be allowed to play a role but kept contained like a "bird in a cage". Chen was demoted during the Cultural Revolution though he returned to power after Mao's death in 1976. After Deng Xiaoping's rehabilitation, Chen voiced his criticism of Maoist policies, decrying China's lack of economic policies, and later became one of
26219-410: Was known for his foundational role in spearheading the reform and opening up alongside Deng Xiaoping. During Deng's term, Chen Yun was the second most powerful person in China. Chen was praised for implementing many of the reforms that made the new generation of Chinese richer, but was also admired for striking a balance between too much laissez-faire economics and retaining state control over key areas of
26386-479: Was not involved in fighting or combat. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general Yuan Shikai . The monarchy was abolished, creating the Republic of China , but the monarchist Yuan became president. With the revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months as
26553-473: Was one of the Party elders active in the 1980s who Zhao respected most. In Zhao's autobiography , Chen was one of the few elders who Zhao referred to regularly as a "comrade". Before implementing new policies, Zhao made a habit of visiting Chen, in order to solicit Chen's advice and attempt to gain Chen's approval. In the event that Zhao failed to gain Chen's approval, Zhao would then normally attempt to fall back on
26720-407: Was one of the main designers of the economic policies of the 1961-1962 "capitalist road" era, when China's economic policy stressed material incentives and sought to encourage economic growth in preference to pursuing ideological goals. This approach is often referred to as Chen's "bird-cage" theory of post-Great Leap economic recovery, where the bird represents the free market and the cage represents
26887-471: Was proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, as his control of the Red Army was allocated to Zhou Enlai . Meanwhile, Mao recovered from tuberculosis . The KMT armies adopted a policy of encirclement and annihilation of the Red armies. Outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like Sun Tzu , but Zhou and
27054-450: Was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing. Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising. He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal. Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as
27221-417: Was still eclectic in his views. Mao visited Tianjin, Jinan , and Qufu , before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met Chen Duxiu , noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, Yi Peiji , a revolutionary and member of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which
27388-420: Was still widely respected as one of the leading elders of the Chinese Communist Party. During the Cultural Revolution, Chen was able to escape political persecution, especially in Mao's time, as he carefully avoided challenging the top leadership too much. Whatever the wisdom of his substantive positions, Chen consistently appeared to act on principle rather than for personal advantage, and retained his influence in
27555-520: Was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek , who moved to marginalise the left-KMT and the Communists. Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's National Revolutionary Army , who embarked on the Northern Expedition attack in 1926 on warlords. In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising
27722-527: Was terminally ill. She died in October 1919 and her husband died in January 1920. On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the complicity of Duan Qirui 's Beiyang government , and the betrayal of China in
27889-415: Was widely influential within the Communist Party and was reflected in the policies of China's leaders after Deng. Chen's theories supported the efforts of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao to use state power to provide boundaries for the operation of the market, and to mediate the damage that capitalism can do to those who find it difficult to benefit from the free market. Chen's notion of the CCP as a "ruling party"
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