First finance minister and central figure of the “61 renegades” case, who returned in the reform era as a conservative elder
Peng Dehuai and Zuo Quan named the operation the Hundred Regiments Offensive on 26 August 1940, but its launching was later revived as a charge against Peng in his line dispute with Mao.
From Shanxi, he was one of the 61 men who on party orders signed “recantations” to leave a Kuomintang prison in 1936, an episode revived in the Cultural Revolution as the “61 renegades” case that kept him confined for twelve years. As the first finance minister after 1949 he unified taxation and currency and was criticised by Mao in the 1953 “new tax system” affair. Returning in 1979 as vice-premier and vice-chairman of the Central Advisory Commission, he was one of the “eight elders” and chaired the meeting that removed Hu Yaobang in 1987. He died in 2007 at 98; Bo Xilai is his son.
Career Timeline
- 1949–1953Minister of Finance
- 1982–1992Vice-Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission
Related historical events
- 1949–1956From New Democracy to socialist transformationFinance minister in the 1953 tax controversyCriticised by Mao for a new tax system that treated public and private firms alike.
- 1976–1992Reform and opening: the Deng Xiaoping eraElder who chaired the meeting that removed Hu YaobangPresided over the “democratic life meeting” of January 1987.
- 1989The Tiananmen protests and the crackdown of 4 June 1989Elder who supported martial lawTook the hard line in the elders’ deliberations.