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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation(set)
Position
Citizenship(set)
Background
Era(set)
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the wider world
GlossaryCommunist Party of China→
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Ye Jianying 叶剑英
From Whampoa instructor to marshal, the soldier who organised the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976 and ended the Cultural Revolution
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1897–1986
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Peng Dehuai 彭德怀
PLA marshal who commanded Chinese forces in Korea, then was purged for criticizing the Great Leap Forward
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1898–1974
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Nie Rongzhen 聂荣臻
Marshal who commanded the Jin-Cha-Ji base and then ran the “two bombs, one satellite” nuclear and missile programme
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1899–1992
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Chen Yi 陈毅
The poet-marshal who led the New Fourth Army and the Third Field Army and succeeded Zhou Enlai as foreign minister
Diplomacy and international organization · People’s Republic of China
1901–1972
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Xu Xiangqian 徐向前
Marshal who commanded the Fourth Front Army through Zhang Guotao’s split and as defence minister directed the 1979 war with Vietnam
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1901–1990
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Peng Zhen 彭真
Beijing mayor purged as the Cultural Revolution's first major target, then the architect of post-Mao China's legal-institutional foundations
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1902–1997
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Rao Shushi 饶漱石
The East China leader purged with Gao Gang in the “Gao–Rao anti-party alliance”, the People’s Republic’s first high-level purge
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1903–1975
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Chen Boda 陈伯达
Mao’s political secretary and the codifier of “Mao Zedong Thought”, head of the Cultural Revolution Group until his fall in 1970
Ideology and propaganda · People’s Republic of China
1904–1989
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Gao Gang 高岗
The second-most powerful man in the CCP who wielded virtually autonomous power in Manchuria, then walked into Mao's trap and fell
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China
1905–1954
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Luo Ruiqing 罗瑞卿
First minister of public security and chief of the general staff, purged on the eve of the Cultural Revolution as Lin Biao’s target
Security, intelligence and policing · People’s Republic of China
1906–1978
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Xu Shiyou 许世友
Shaolin-trained Red Army general who led the Guangzhou military region on the eastern front of the 1979 war with Vietnam
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1906–1985
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Lin Biao 林彪
Mao's designated successor and the military genius who won the Chinese Civil War, third among the Ten Marshals
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1907–1971
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Wu Han 吴晗
Ming historian and Beijing vice-mayor whose play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office became the fuse of the Cultural Revolution
Scholarship and theory · Communist Party of China
1909–1969
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Li Xiannian 李先念
The finance chief who survived the Cultural Revolution, helped arrest the Gang of Four and became president; one of the “eight elders”
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China
1909–1992
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Deng Hua 邓华
A field commander who read the course of war
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1910–1980
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Yang Dezhi 杨得志
General who fought in Korea, commanded the Kunming region on the western front in 1979 and became chief of the General Staff
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1911–1994
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Jiang Qing 江青
From the Shanghai stage to the pinnacle of the Cultural Revolution: Mao's wife who led the Gang of Four and remade Chinese revolutionary art
Ideology and propaganda · People’s Republic of China
1914–1991
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Chen Yonggui 陈永贵
The peasant leader of the model village behind “In agriculture, learn from Dazhai”, who rose to vice-premier
Agriculture and land policy · People’s Republic of China
1915–1986
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Wang Dongxing 汪东兴
Mao’s bodyguard chief whose Zhongnanhai Unit 8341 arrested the Gang of Four, then pushed aside for the “two whatevers”
Security, intelligence and policing · People’s Republic of China
1916–2015
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Zhang Chunqiao 张春桥
Theoretician of the Gang of Four who organized the Shanghai People's Commune and championed all-round dictatorship over the bourgeoisie
Ideology and propaganda · People’s Republic of China
1917–2005
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Yao Wenyuan 姚文元
The Gang of Four’s theorist whose attack on Hai Rui Dismissed from Office opened the Cultural Revolution; the critic nicknamed “the cudgel”
Ideology and propaganda · People’s Republic of China
1931–2005
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Wang Hongwen 王洪文
The Shanghai worker-rebel who rose “like a helicopter” to party vice-chairman, youngest of the Gang of Four
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1935–1992