1917–2005
○ Sentenced to death, commuted; released 1998
Theoretician of the Gang of Four who organized the Shanghai People's Commune and championed all-round dictatorship over the bourgeoisie
At his 1980 trial, Zhang remained silent and refused to speak until his family was permitted to visit him years later.
A core theoretician of China's Cultural Revolution and member of the Gang of Four. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1938 and rose as editor of Shanghai's Jiefang Daily. His 1958 article 'Destroy the Ideology of Bourgeois Right' caught Mao Zedong's attention; as a member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, he organized the Shanghai People's Commune in 1967, overthrowing the existing municipal government. As vice premier in 1975, he authored 'On Exercising All-Round Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie,' formalizing the class-struggle line of the socialist transition, and remained faithful to his Maoist convictions through arrest and imprisonment until his release in 1998.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1938Joined the Chinese Communist Party
- 1949–1966Editor, Jiefang Daily (Shanghai)
- 1966–1969Member, Central Cultural Revolution Group
- 1967–1976Chairman, Shanghai Revolutionary Committee (mayor)
- 1969–1973Politburo → 1973–1976: Standing Committee
- 1975–1976Vice Premier; Director, PLA General Political Dept.
- 1976Arrested with the Gang of Four
- 1984–1998Death sentence → life → 18 years → medical release
Related historical events
Shanghai power seizure and the Revolutionary Committee
When rebel organizations seized power from Shanghai’s party and government institutions in January 1967, Zhang Chunqiao, backed by Beijing’s Central Cultural Revolution Group, led the Workers’ General Headquarters in pushing to establish a new governing body. The Workers’ General Headquarters was then Shanghai’s leading rebel faction. The plan was to inaugurate a Shanghai People’s Commune modeled on the Paris Commune on 26 January, but its formation was delayed until 5 February. In the meantime, the central leadership favored a Revolutionary Committee joining Red Guards, Party cadres and the military, making the Commune an alternative almost as soon as it was formed. On 24 February Mao Zedong formally suspended it, saying it was too early to establish a commune, and replaced it with the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee. Zhang remained in charge of the new committee.
Zhang’s seizure of power went beyond overthrowing Shanghai’s incumbent Party leadership: it moved toward bringing rebel forces together under a central-approved administrative body. One study interprets the Shanghai power seizure as an internal coup orchestrated by central authorities and credits Zhang chiefly with restoring order and subduing the labor movement. Shanghai did not subsequently experience the factional warfare that afflicted other regions. Power seizures were declared in 23 provincial capitals, but the central authorities certified only four provinces during the first eleven weeks of 1967. The spread of the Shanghai model therefore depended not on popular power seizures alone, but on a leader trusted by the center, unified rebel forces, and a new governing structure incorporating military and Party cadres.