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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation
Position
Citizenship
Background(set)
Era
People of the Chinese revolution and the People’s Republic
People of the wider world
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Yuan Shikai 袁世凯
The Beiyang strongman who took over the 1911 revolution and tried to make himself emperor
Military command · Beiyang government and warlords
1859–1916
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Sun Yat-sen 孙中山
Founding father of the Republic of China who framed the Three Principles of the People and the first united front
Political and party leadership · Kuomintang
1866–1925
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Zhang Zuolin 张作霖
The warlord who dominated Manchuria
Military command · Beiyang government and warlords
1875–1928
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Chen Duxiu 陈独秀
The New Culture revolutionary who founded the CCP and led it for six years
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1879–1942
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Lu Xun 鲁迅
Author of The True Story of Ah Q, father of modern Chinese literature who carried May Fourth’s critical spirit into the left-wing league
Literature and arts
1881–1936
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Wang Jingwei 汪精卫
Sun Yat-sen’s heir and Kuomintang left leader who ended as head of the Japanese-sponsored Nanjing regime
Political and party leadership · Kuomintang
1883–1944
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Zhu De 朱德
Founder of the Chinese Red Army and the PLA, first among the Ten Marshals
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1886–1976
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Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石
Nationalist leader who combined resistance to Japan with anti-communist rule
Political and party leadership · Kuomintang
1887–1975
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Li Dazhao 李大钊
The Peking University librarian who first embraced Marxism in China and nurtured the generation of Mao Zedong
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1889–1927
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Hu Shih 胡适
The liberal of the New Culture Movement who led the vernacular-language campaign and later served the Nationalists as a diplomat
Scholarship and theory
1891–1962
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Liu Bocheng 刘伯承
The “one-eyed dragon”, Red Army chief of staff and Deng Xiaoping’s partner who commanded at Huaihai
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1892–1986
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Mao Zedong 毛泽东
He rewrote the grammar of revolution for a peasant country
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1893–1976
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Soong Ching-ling 宋庆龄
Sun Yat-sen’s widow who stayed with the Kuomintang left and became a vice-chair of the People’s Republic
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party of China
1893–1981
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Soong Ziwen 宋子文
A Nationalist technocrat who bridged finance and diplomacy
Economy, finance and planning · Kuomintang
1894–1971
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Tsiang Tingfu 蒋廷黻
The Nationalist diplomat whose presence at the Security Council table triggered the Soviet walkout
Diplomacy and international organization · Kuomintang
1895–1965
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He Long 贺龙
The Hunanese who rose “with two kitchen knives”, commander of the Nanchang Uprising and the Second Front Army
Military command · People’s Republic of China
1896–1969
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Zhang Guotao 张国焘
Chair of the founding congress who split with Mao on the Long March and defected to the Nationalists
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1897–1979
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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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Liu Shaoqi 刘少奇
CCP chief theoretician and PRC Chairman (1959–68), designated successor to Mao who was purged as China's foremost 'capitalist roader'
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1898–1969
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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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Kang Sheng 康生
Mao’s inquisitor who ran party security and intelligence from the Yan’an “rescue” campaign to the Cultural Revolution
Security, intelligence and policing · People’s Republic of China
1898–1975
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Zhou Enlai 周恩来
The PRC's first premier and an architect of its foreign policy
Government and administration · People’s Republic of China
1898–1976
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Qu Qiubai 瞿秋白
Marxist literary critic who first sang The Internationale in Chinese, and party leader in 1927
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1899–1935
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Li Lisan 李立三
Labour organiser whose 1930 urban-insurrection “Li Lisan line” led the party and cost him his position
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1899–1967
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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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Zhang Wentian 张闻天
A “28 Bolsheviks” returnee who became general secretary after Zunyi and sided with Peng Dehuai at Lushan in 1959
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1900–1976
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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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Zhang Xueliang 张学良
The “Young Marshal” who detained Chiang Kai-shek at Xi’an and opened the way to the second united front
Military command · Beiyang government and warlords
1901–2001
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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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Ren Bishi 任弼时
The organiser among Yan’an’s five secretaries, dead a year after the People’s Republic was founded
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1904–1950
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Wang Ming 王明
Leader of the "28 Bolsheviks" and Mao Zedong's foremost political rival
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1904–1974
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Ding Ling 丁玲
From Miss Sophia’s Diary to The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River, a writer who lived through Yan’an and the anti-rightist purge
Literature and arts · Communist Party of China
1904–1986
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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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Deng Xiaoping 邓小平
The paramount leader who redirected China through reform and opening
Political and party leadership · People’s Republic of China
1904–1997
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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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Chen Yun 陈云
CCP elder who designed China's socialist economic system with his 'bird-cage economy' concept
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China
1905–1995
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Wang Shiwei 王实味
The writer whose “Wild Lilies” criticised privilege at Yan’an and made him the rectification movement’s first victim
Literature and arts · Communist Party of China
1906–1947
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Puyi 溥仪
Last emperor of the Qing, puppet emperor of Manchukuo, and a “remoulded” citizen of the People’s Republic
Monarchs and royalty · Qing dynasty
1906–1967
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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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Bo Gu 博古
The CCP's young General Secretary who represented the Comintern line and later built the Party's press apparatus
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of China
1907–1946
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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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Bo Yibo 薄一波
First finance minister and central figure of the “61 renegades” case, who returned in the reform era as a conservative elder
Economy, finance and planning · People’s Republic of China
1908–2007
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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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Deng Tuo 邓拓
People’s Daily editor whose Evening Chats at Yanshan were read as satire of the Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution’s first victim
Ideology and propaganda · People’s Republic of China
1912–1966