by Philip Short
Liu Bocheng (1892–1986): Legendary Red Army commander known as the ‘One-eyed Dragon’. Zunyi veteran. One of ten PLA marshals appointed in 1955; entered the Politburo a year later. Totally blind and politically inactive from the mid-1960s, but remained a nominal member of the leadership until after Mao's death. Survived the Cultural Revolution unharmed.
Luo Ruiqing (1906–78): Red Army political security officer in the early 1930s. Minister of Public Security; afterwards PLA Chief of Staff under Lin Biao. Purged in December 1965 amid preparations for the Cultural Revolution. Broke both legs in a failed suicide attempt three months later. Rehabilitated in 1975.
Nie Rongzhen (1899–1992): Participated in the Nanchang Uprising. Zunyi veteran. Headed the Jin-Cha-Ji north China base area during the war against Japan. One of ten PLA marshals appointed in 1955, responsible for China's nuclear weapons programme. Despite playing a leading role in the ‘February Adverse Current’, came through the Cultural Revolution unscathed.
Peng Dehuai (1898–1974): With Mao on Jinggangshan. Zunyi veteran. Front commander during the anti-Japanese war; Chinese commander in the Korean War. Politburo member since 1945. Dismissed in 1959; purged in December 1966. Died in a prison hospital from deliberate medical neglect. Buried under a false name. Posthumously rehabilitated after Mao's death.
Peng Shuzhi (1895–1983): Moscow-trained Hunanese communist. Politburo member from 1925–7, expelled from the Party two years later after founding a Trotskyist opposition group. Died in exile in Los Angeles.
Peng Zhen (1902–97): Leader of the underground Party in north China in the 1930s and 1940s; close ally of Liu Shaoqi. Politburo member from 1945, later Mayor of Beijing. Purged at the outset of the Cultural Revolution. Survived ten years in prison. Rehabilitated after Mao's death.
Qu Qiubai (1899–1935): A talented literary figure who found himself, almost by accident, de facto Party leader from August 1927 to June 1928. Like Li Lisan, he urged a policy of nationwide insurrection. Sidelined in 1931. Stayed behind at the time of the Long March; captured and executed by the nationalists.
Ren Bishi (1904–50): A member of the Russian Studies Society set up by Mao in Changsha in 1920. Studied in Moscow. Returned to head the CCP Youth League. Joined the Politburo in January 1931, remaining a member until his death from a stroke. After 1943 he ranked fifth in the Party hierarchy.
Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925): Led the campaign for republican government which paved the way for the overthrow of the Manchu Empire in 1911. Served briefly as China's first President before yielding power to Yuan Shikai. A year later he founded the Guomindang (Nationalist Party), which formed a tactical alliance with the fledgeling CCP in 1923. Died in Beijing while trying to negotiate with the northern warlords.
Tan Yankai (1880–1930): Literary scholar from a progressive Hunan gentry family who served three times as a provincial Military Governor between 1911 and 1920. He afterwards rallied to Sun Yat-sen and in 1927 became Chairman of the GMD Political Council.
Tan Zhenlin (1902–83): With Mao on Jinggangshan. In the 1950s, Vice-Premier in charge of agriculture. Politburo member from 1958. Harshly criticised for his role in the ‘February Adverse Current’, he dropped from view after 1967. Re-emerged at the Tenth Party Congress six years later.
Tao Zhu (1908–69): South China Party leader, promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee at the start of the Cultural Revolution in August 1966. That autumn ranked fourth in the Party hierarchy. Purged four months later. Died of cancer while in custody. Posthumously rehabilitated after Mao's death.
Wang Hongwen (1933–92): Shanghai textile-mill cadre who led the rebel ‘power seizure’ in Shanghai in January 1967. Picked by Mao as a possible successor in 1972. Became a CC Vice-Chairman and third-ranking Party leader in 1973. Arrested with Jiang Qing and the other members of the ‘Gang of Four’ a month after Mao's death. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981 for political crimes. Died of liver cancer.
Wang Jiaxiang (1906–74): Trained in Moscow with Wang Ming, but broke with the other ‘Returned Students’ in the early 1930s to become one of Mao's leading supporters. After 1949, served as a vice-Foreign Minister. Purged in the Cultural Revolution, re-emerged at the Tenth Party Congress in 1973.
Wang Jingwei (1883–1944): Close associate of Sun Yat-sen. In 1910 led an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Prince Regent. After Sun's death, became the top GMD civilian leader, in which capacity he acted as Mao's patron. Defeated in a power struggle with Chiang Kai-shek, but retained a strong factional following within the party. In the winter of 1938, he broke with Chiang and left to head a Japanese puppet government in Nanjing.
Wang Ming (1904–74): Leader of the Moscow-trained group of ‘Returned Students’ whom the Comintern placed at the head of the CCP in January 1931. After reaching Yan'an in 1937, he became Mao's main rival for the Party leadership. His defeat less than a year later set the stage for a lengthy campaign by Mao against Left-deviationism and dogmatism (blind support of Soviet policies). Wang lost his Politburo rank in 1945 but remained a member of the CC until the late 1950s, when he left China to live in exile in the USSR.
Wang Zuo (1898–1930): Leader of a bandit force on Jinggangshan. Enrolled his men under Mao's banner in the spring of 1928. Killed with Yuan Wencai in an internecine Party feud.
Wu Faxian (1915–2004): Commander of the PLA air force. One of four senior military officers (with Huang Yongsheng, Li Zuopeng and Qiu Huizuo) who constituted Lin Biao's faction in the Politburo after the Ninth Congress in 1969. All were purged after Lin's death and sentenced to long prison terms for political crimes in 1981, but released early on grounds of ill-health.
Xiang Ying (1889–1941): A communist labour organiser who rose to become third-ranking CCP leader in 1928. He slowly lost power after Wang Ming and his allies took control of the Party in January 1931. Stayed behind at the time of the Long March to lead the resistance in the Central Soviet Base Area.
Xiang Zhongfa (1880–1931): Titular CCP General Secretary from 1928 to 1931, when Li Lisan and Wang Ming were de facto Party leaders. Betrayed to the GMD by a communist turncoat and executed.
Xie Fuzhi (1909–72): Minister of Public Security from 1959, Politburo member from the Ninth Congress. Chairman of Beijing Revolutionary Committee. Seconded Kang Sheng in persecuting old-guard leaders during the Cultural Revolution. Died of cancer; expelled posthumously from the Party for political crimes.
Xu Xiangqian (1901–90): Led Red guerrilla base north of the Yangtse in the early 1930s. One of ten PLA marshals appointed in 1955. Vice- Chairman of CC Military Commission. Criticised during the Cultural Revolution but not purged.
Yang Shangkun (1907–98): Zunyi veteran. Director of the CC General Office until November 1965. Purged at the outset of the Cultural Revolution. Rehabilitated after Mao's death; subsequently became Head of State.
Yao Wenyuan (1925–2005): Radical literary critic who came to prominence during the anti-Rightist Campaign. Drafted for Mao the polemic which set in motion the Cultural Revolution. Politburo member from 1969. Arrested with the rest of the ‘Gang of Four’ a month after Mao's death. Sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment in 1981 for political crimes, later released on parole.
Ye Jianying (1897–1986): A nationalist army officer who joined the CCP in 1927. Took part in the Canton Uprising and then served for many years as Red Army Chief of Staff. One of ten PLA marshals appointed in 1955 and a key leader of the CC Military Commission. Joined the Politburo in 1966. Passed through the Cultural Revolution unscathed (despite playing a major role in the ‘February Adverse Current’). After Mao's death, was instrumental in securing the arrests of the ‘Gang of Four’ and the return to power of Deng Xiaoping.
Yuan Wencai (1898–1930): Leader of a small bandit force at Maoping, at the foot of the Jinggangshan. Joined the CCP in 1926 and enrolled his men under Mao's command a year later, becoming Chairman of the Soviet border area government. Shot dead by local rivals in an internecine Party feud.
Zhang C
hunqiao (1917–2005): Radical propaganda official in Shanghai who rose to become Deputy Head of the Cultural Revolution Group and Chairman of the Shanghai Revolutionary Committee. A member of the Politburo from 1969 and of its Standing Committee from 1973. Detained with the rest of the ‘Gang of Four’ a month after Mao's death. Received a commuted death sentence in 1981 for political crimes.
Zhang Guotao (1897–1979): Student leader at Beijing University. Founder member of the Party, CC member from 1921, Central Bureau (later Politburo) from 1925. Headed the E-Yu-Wan Red base area, north of the Yangtse. After a power struggle with Mao during the Long March, lost most of his army. Sidelined politically from 1937; defected to the Guomindang a year later. Died in exile in Canada.
Zhang Wentian (1900–76): Moscow-trained ‘Returned Student’ who served as deputy to Bo Gu from 1931–4, but switched support to Mao shortly before the Long March. Played a key role in securing Mao's ascendancy at Zunyi. Afterwards became provisional Party leader (until November 1938). Sidelined after 1949. Dismissed with Peng Dehuai after the Lushan plenum. Imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution. Posthumously rehabilitated.
Zhao Hengti (1880–1971): Military Governor of Hunan from 1920–6. Ordered Mao's arrest and execution during peasant uprisings in 1925. Died in Taiwan.
Zhou Enlai (1898–1976): Founded CCP European branch in France. Alternate member of the Politburo in 1927; full member continuously from 1928 until his death, longer than any other Party leader. Initially hostile, then ambivalent relationship with Mao until Zunyi, where he supported Mao's leadership against Bo Gu and the Comintern adviser, Otto Braun. Backed Wang Ming in 1938; thereafter made a religion of loyalty to Mao. Too useful a politician for Mao to purge. Premier from 1949 until his death. Played a vital role in implementing the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Died of cancer.
Zhu De (1886–1976): Participated in 1911 Revolution under the Yunnan Military Governor, Cai E. Became a minor warlord. Joined the CCP in Europe. One of the leaders of the Nanchang Uprising. With Mao on Jinggangshan. Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army. Politburo member from 1945 until his death. Withdrew into an elder-statesman role after 1949. Protected on Mao's orders during the Cultural Revolution. Chairman of the National People's Congress (de facto Head of State) from 1975–6.
Notes
CHINESE VIEWS OF MAO
1. An ’11-dash line’, based on territorial claims dating back to imperial times, had been promulgated by Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government six years earlier. Zhou removed the two dashes marking the sea border between Hainan and North Vietnam, then China's close ally. In 2013, China added a 10th dash, East of Taiwan.
2. For the record, Roderick MacFarquhar, writing for the Economist three years later, came much closer than anyone else. When China would be able to mobilise its potential, he predicted, ‘a sun will rise in the East by comparison with which Japan will be but a pale shadow’. Truth compels me to say that when I read those lines in Beijing in September 1979, amid the dirt and peeling paint of an economy which was still half-Stalinist, half-Victorian, I raised my eyes to heaven and wondered what on earth he was talking about. Now I know.
3. Cited by Pankaj Mishra in the New Yorker, December 20, 2010.
4. Perry, Elizabeth, Anyuan: Mining China's Revolutionary Tradition, University of California Press, 2013, pp. 290–1.
5. Lifton, Robert Jay, Revolutionary Immortality: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Vintage, 1968, pp. 156–61.
6. See Roderick MacFarquhar, ‘The Superpower of Mr Xi’, in New York Review of Books, August 13, 2015.
PROLOGUE
1. Pang Xianzhi (ed.), Mao Zedong nianpu [Chronological Biography of Mao Zedong], Renmin chubanshe, Beijing, 1991, vol. 1, pp. 439–40. The more commonly given date, December 11, is incorrect. The Party History Research Centre of the CCP CC, in its History of the Chinese Communist Party: A Chronology of Events, 1919–1990 (Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1991, p. 93), states that the Red Army ‘seized the passage to Hunan on the 11th’. The Tongdao meeting was convened the following day. See also Ma Qibin, Huang Shaoqun and Liu Wenjun, Zhongyang geming genjudi shi, Renmin chubanshe, Beijing, 1986, pp. 528–9; Guofang daxue dangshi zhenggong jiaoyanshi, Changzheng xintan, Jiefangjun chubanshe, Beijing, 1986, pp. 39–40; and Braun, Otto, A Comintern Agent in China: 1932–39, C.M. Hurst, London, 1982, pp. 92–3.
2. Exhibited at the Zunyi Museum, January 1995.
3. Salisbury, Harrison, The Long March, Harper & Row, New York, 1985, p. 109 and p. 364, n. 10.
4. Smedley, Agnes, Battle Hymn of China, Victor Gollancz, London, 1944, pp. 121–3.
5. North China Herald [hereafter NCH], Shanghai, Nov. 14 1934. See also Garavente, Anthony, ‘The Long March’, China Quarterly [hereafter CQ], 22, pp. 102–5; Yang, Benjamin, From Revolution to Politics, Westview Press, Boulder, 1990, p. 103; and Salisbury, pp. 92–3. The nationalists captured Ruijin soon after the communists pulled out on October 10. But while Chiang knew the Red Army was on the move, he could not tell whether it was abandoning the base or merely regrouping for a fresh offensive.
6. The best account of the engagement is in Salisbury, Long March, pp. 91–104.
7. Yang, Benjamin, ‘The Zunyi Conference as One Step in Mao's Rise to Power’, CQ, 106, p. 264.
8. After the meeting ended, at 1900 hours on December 12, the Military Council issued the following order: ‘Top Priority. The Hunan enemy troops and the main force of [the warlord] Tao Guang are closing in on Tongdao. Other enemy forces are continuing to make their way towards Hongjiang and jingxian [on the Guizhou/Hunan border further north]. They are trying to stop us going north. Therefore prepare to enter Guizhou … Tomorrow, the 13th, our Red Army should continue its westward deployment … The First Army should … occupy Liping’ (Nianpu, 1, pp. 439–40).
9. Agnes Smedley, The Great Road, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1956, pp. 313–14.
10. Martynov, A. A., Aleksandr, Velikii Pokhod, 1-go fronta Kitaiskoi raboche-krestyanskoi krasnoi armii: Vospominaniia, Izdatelstvo Inostrannoi Literatury, Moscow, 1959, pp. 170–6.
11. Smedley, Great Road, pp. 315–16.
12. Gu Zhengkun (ed.), Poems of Mao Zedong, Peking University Press, Beijing, 1993, pp. 68 and 70.
13. Nianpu, 1, pp. 440–1. Changzheng xintan, pp. 41–2. Li Weihan, Huiyi yu yanjiu, Zhonggong dangshi ziliao chubanshe, Beijing, 1986, pp. 350–1. Braun, p. 93.
14. Text exhibited at the Liping Museum in January 1995.
15. Changzheng xintan, pp. 43–4; Wenxian he yanjiu, no. 1, 1985, pp. 20–1; Nianpu, 1, p. 442. The text of the Houchang Resolution was exhibited at the Zunyi Museum in January 1995.
16. Exhibited at the Zunyi Museum in January 1995.
17. Much of the detail of the Zunyi meeting is still a matter of controversy. ‘The Zunyi Conference’, CQ106, pp. 235–71; and Thomas Kampen, ‘The Zunyi Conference and Further Steps in Mao's Rise to Power’, CQ, 117, pp. 118–34, provide the most reliable published accounts. See also Zunyi huiyi ziliao xuanbian, Guizhou chubanshe, Guiyang, 1985; Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong zhuan, 1893–1949, Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, Beijing, 1996; and Braun, pp. 94–108.
The meeting-place is now a museum, as is the house where Mao stayed. Salisbury [Long March, p. 118] was curiously misled about the leaders’ accommodation, stating that ‘Bo Gu and Otto Braun were … living in isolation from the rest’. In fact, Bo and Braun were less than 100 yards from the CCP HQ. Mao, Wang and Zhang were the ones on the far side of town.
18. Braun, p. 96.
19. Jin Chongji, p. 341.
20. Braun, p. 98.
21. No text of Mao's speech has been preserved, but the resolution approved at the meeting is clearly based on it (Yang, ‘The Zunyi Conference’, pp. 262–5; and Chen, Jerome, ‘Resolutions of the Zunyi Conference’, CQ, 40, pp. 1–17).
22. See Kampen, p. 123; and Yang, CQ, 106, pp. 265–71, especially the phrase, ‘Comrade Bo Gu … did not apparently put this factor in a secondary place’
(p. 267).
23. Pantsov, Alexander and Levine, Steven I, Mao, the Real Story, Simon and Schuster, 2012, p. 271; Sheng, Michael, Battling Western Imperialism: Mao, Stalin and the United States, Princeton University Press, 1997, pp. 20–21.
24. Braun, p. 104.
25. Ibid., pp. 108–18; Nianpu, 1, pp. 445–59; Kampen, pp. 124–34.
26. Dangshi ziliao tongxun, no. 10, 1987, p. 39.
27. Li Zhisui, The Private Life of Chairman Mao, Chatto & Windus, London, 1994, pp. 365–9.
28. Ibid., pp. 355–64. See also Salisbury, Harrison, The New Emperors, HarperCollins, London, 1902, pp. 134, 217–19, 221. When I lived in Beijing in the early 1980s, Mao's sexual proclivities were well known and the subject of much amusement (mixed with envy), among the sons and daughters of the communist elite.
29. Dr Li quotes Mao as saying: ‘I wash myself inside the bodies of my women’. According to one of his former partners, Mao used the phrase frequently and not in the bowdlerised form given by Dr Li.
30. Li Zhisui, p. 366.
31. Ibid., pp. 292–3 and 365–69.
32. Yang, CQ, 106, p. 263.
33. The phrase is from Lenin (and Clausewitz). Mao made it one of the central themes of his essay, ‘On Protracted War’ (SW, 2, pp. 152–3) in 1938. His formulation was: ‘War is politics … Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.’
CHAPTER 1 A CONFUCIAN CHILDHOOD
1. Bodde, Derk, Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking, Henri Vetch, Peiping, 1936, p. 87.
2. Siao, Emi, Mao Tse-tung: His Childhood and Youth, Bombay, 1953, p. 2.
3. Dore, Henri, SJ, Recherches sur les Superstitions en Chine, vol. 1, Shanghai, 1911 [Variétés Sinologiques no. 32], pp. 8–17; Cormack, A., Chinese Births, Weddings and Deaths, Peking, 1923, pp. 2–5.
