Beijing mayor purged as the Cultural Revolution's first major target, then the architect of post-Mao China's legal-institutional foundations
"Chairman Mao was not without any mistakes either. … Even if Chairman Mao's prestige is not as high as Mount Everest, it's still as high as Mount Tai. Even if you shovel off a few tons of dirt, it's still just as high" — at the 1962 Seven Thousand Cadres Conference, publicly criticizing Mao
A founding CCP member in Shanxi (1923) who rose through the anti-Japanese war and civil war to the Politburo in 1945. As Beijing mayor and first party secretary (1951–66), he governed the capital for 15 years as a loyal party stronghold. In February 1966, his 'February Outline' tried to contain the Cultural Revolution within academic debate; Mao annulled it and had Peng purged as a 'counter-revolutionary revisionist,' subjected to over 53 public struggle sessions, the Cultural Revolution's opening act. Rehabilitated under Deng Xiaoping in 1979, he chaired the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, pushed seven foundational laws through the NPC in three months, and as NPC Standing Committee chairman (1983–88) laid the institutional foundations of China's post-Mao legal system.
Career Timeline
- 1923Joined CCP in Taiyuan; founding member in Shanxi province
- 1929–1935Imprisoned in Beijing and Tianjin; continued underground work from prison
- 1937–1941Organization director, North China Bureau; secretary, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region
- 1941–1944Deputy director, Central Party School; led the Yan'an Rectification purge at the school
- 1945Elected to Politburo; sent to lead Northeast Bureau — removed 1946 after military defeats
- 1951–1966Mayor of Beijing and First Secretary of Beijing Municipal Committee
- 1966Head of Five Man Group, drafted February Outline; purged at May 1966 conference, opening the Cultural Revolution
- 1979–1988Chair of NPC Legal Affairs Commission, secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission; Chairman of 6th NPC Standing Committee (1983–88)