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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity(set)
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era(set)
People of the Soviet Union
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era
People of the wider world
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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 state institutions
1897–1986
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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 state institutions
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 state institutions
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 state institutions
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 state institutions
1903–1975
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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 state institutions
1905–1954
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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 state institutions
1907–1971
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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 state institutions
1909–1992
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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 state institutions
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 state institutions
1914–1991
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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 state institutions
1916–2015
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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 state institutions
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 state institutions
1935–1992