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Jia Qinglin (born March 1940 in Botou, Hebei, China) is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He is the fourth ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman and Party secretary of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference.^[1] Jia's functions as the head of China's consultative legislative body are largely ceremonial in nature. Earlier he had served as the CPC Party Chief in the country's southern Fujian province and Beijing.^{[2][3] [4]}

Political career[link]

An engineer by profession, and one of former General Secretary Jiang Zemin's trusted allies and protege, Jia Qinglin's rise in the politburo is attributed to his relationship with Jiang. Jia served as the Party chief in Fujian in the early 1990s. He was later transferred to Beijing in 1996 to replace then Beijing Party-chief Chen Xitong who was arrested on corruption charges. Jia served as the acting Mayor, Mayor and Party Chief in Beijing, coming onto the national and international spotlight during the 50th Anniversary of PRC celebrations as the event's host.^[2][5]

At the national level[link]

Because of his high local position and his ties with then-General Secretary Jiang Zemin, in November 2002 Jia became the fourth-ranking member on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the Communist Party of China.^[6] Although his ceremonial role as the Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a quasi-consultative upper house in China's political system, makes him fourth in the order of precedence, it is widely accepted that the position has very little power, perhaps the least amount of power in the nine PSC members. Jia Qinglin was the most senior Chinese official to attend the funeral of Zhao Ziyang. With the transition of authority to Hu Jintao in 2005, Jia appears to have been given the job of coordinating policy on Taiwan.^[2][7]

Jia was reelected to the 17th Politburo Standing Committee during the CPC 17th national congress, a move that analysts predicted partly because of Jia's loyalty to his patron Jiang Zemin.

Career timeline[link]

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1956–1958: Student majoring in industrial enterprise planning at Shijiazhuang Industrial Management School.

1958–1962: Student majoring in electric motor and appliance design and manufacture of the Department of Electric Power of Hebei institution of Technology (now Hebei University of Technology).

1962–1969: Technician of the Complete Plant Bureau of the First Machine-Building Industry Ministry and deputy secretary of its CYLC organization.

1969–1971: Did manual work in the 7 May Cadre School of the First Machine-Building Industry Ministry in Fengxin County, Jiangxi Province.

1971–1973: Technician of the Policy Research Office of the General Office of the First Machine-Building Industry Ministry.

1973–1978: Chief of the Product Management Bureau of the First Ministry of Machine-building Industry.

1978–1983: General manager of China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation.

1983–1985: Director of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Plant and secretary of its Party committee.

1985–1986: Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and its deputy secretary.

1986–1988: Deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and head of the Organization Department of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee.

1988–1990: Deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, president of the Party School of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and secretary of the Work Committee of Departments under the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee.

1990–1991: Deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee, deputy governor and acting governor of Fujian Province.

1991–1993: Deputy secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and governor of Fujian Province.

1993–1994: Secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and governor of Fujian Province.

1994–1996: Secretary of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Fujian Provincial People's Congress.

1996–1997: Deputy secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, vice-mayor, acting mayor and mayor of Beijing.

1997–1999: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and mayor of Beijing.

1999–2002: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.

2002–: Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

March 2003: Elected chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

See also[link]

• Politics of the People's Republic of China

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jia Qinglin biography @ China Vitae

v t e Members of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China General Secretary 1. Hu Jintao Other members 2. Wu Bangguo 3. Wen Jiabao 4. Jia Qinglin 5. Li Changchun 6. Xi Jinping 7. Li Keqiang 8. He Guoqiang 9. Zhou Yongkang

v t e Members of the 16th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China General Secretary 1. Hu Jintao Other members 2. Wu Bangguo 3. Wen Jiabao 4. Jia Qinglin 5. Zeng Qinghong 6. Huang Ju 7. Wu Guanzheng 8. Li Changchun 9. Luo Gan

v t e Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Mao Zedong Zhou Enlai vacant (1976–1978) Deng Xiaoping Deng Yingchao Li Xiannian vacant (1992–1993) Li Ruihuan Jia Qinglin

Li Keqiang 李克强
9th First Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 March 2008
Premier	Wen Jiabao
Preceded by	Wu Yi (Acting)
Member of the National People's Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 March 1993
Constituency	Anhui At-large (93–98) Henan At-large (98-08) Liaoning At-large (08-)
11th Communist Party Committee Secretary of Liaoning
In office December 2004 – October 2007
Deputy	Zhang Wenyue
Preceded by	Wen Shizhen
Succeeded by	Zhang Wenyue
12th Communist Party Committee Secretary of Henan
In office December 2002 – December 2004
Deputy	Li Chengyu
Preceded by	Chen Kuiyuan
Succeeded by	Xu Guangchun
First Secretary of the Communist Youth League of China
In office May 1993 – June 1998
Preceded by	Song Defu
Succeeded by	Zhou Qiang
Personal details
Born	(1955-07-01) 1 July 1955 (age 56) Dingyuan, China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Cheng Hong
Alma mater	Peking University
Signature

Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is the Executive Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the seventh ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the People's Republic of China's de facto highest decision-making body. As Premier Wen Jiabao's top lieutenant, Li's official portfolio includes economic development, price controls, finance, climate change, and macroeconomic management.

Li rose through the ranks of the Communist Youth League. From 1998 to 2004, Li served as the Governor of Henan and the province's CPC party chief, and then the Liaoning party chief, an office that made him first-in-charge in that province. Li is speculated as the likely successor to Wen Jiabao as Premier in the "fifth generation" (Xi-Li Administration) of CPC leadership.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Li Keqiang was born in Dingyuan County, Anhui on 1 July 1955. His father was a local official in Anhui. Li graduated from high school in 1974, during the Cultural Revolution, and was sent for rural labour in Fengyang County, Anhui, where he eventually joined the Communist Party of China and made his way to becoming the party head of the local production team. He was awarded with the honour of Outstanding Individual in the Study of Mao Zedong Thought during this time.^[1]

He refused his father's offer of grooming him for the local county's party leadership and entered the School of Law at Peking University, where he received his LLB and became the President of the University's Student Council. He would go on to acquire a PhD in Economics. In 1980 he became the Communist Youth League Secretary at Peking University. He entered the top leadership of the Communist Youth League (CYL) in 1982 as a member of its Secretariat, and has worked closely with current General Secretary Hu Jintao, who also rose through the ranks of the CYL, ever since. Li became the organization's General Secretary in 1993, and served until 1998. He is a representative member of the first generation to have risen from the CYL leadership.

Provincial tenures[link]

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Li became China's youngest governor when appointed to the position of Governor of Henan, one of China's most populous provinces, in June 1998, at the age of 43. Knowing the complicated situation Henan was in, and the issues associated with networking in the province, Li consciously left his family in Beijing to head to Zhengzhou alone. In addition, according to provincial government officials working with him at the time, Li refused to participate in any banquets or large fancy events not related to government activities.^[2] During his time as governor a public sense of his ‘bad luck’ grew due to the occurrence of three major fires in the province.^[3]

He is known to be outspoken, and led economic development in the central province, transforming the poor inland region into an attractive area for investment. Li did not waste time pursuing superficial projects, but rather trekked all regions of Henan trying to search for a comprehensive solution to the province's growing problems. Henan jumped in national GDP rankings from 28th in the early 1990s to 18th in 2004, when Li left Henan. However,he was unable to control the widespread of AIDS in the province during his governing, which has been proved to be disastrous.

He was transferred to work as the CPC Committee Secretary in Liaoning in December 2004. In Liaoning he is known for the "Five-points to one Line" project, where he linked up Dalian and Dandong, as well as a series of other ports into a comprehensive network.

National politics[link]

Predictions he would eventually advance to the national level at the 17th Party Congress proved correct when he was elected to the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) in October 2007. He was succeeded in his provincial post by Governor Zhang Wenyue. Li has been touted as a possible successor to Hu Jintao, whose second term as General Secretary, expected to be his last, will end in 2012. At the 2008 National People's Congress, he was elected Vice-Premier, first in rank. This position makes it seem more likely that he will succeed Premier Wen Jiabao. As a result of this it is considered that he has lost out to Xi Jinping in the internal power struggle.^[3]

Since his ascendancy to the PSC, Li has taken on the most important portfolios in the Chinese government, ostensibly being groomed for his upcoming premiership. Li's first major appearance internationally was at the 2010 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The event was seen as an "acid test" for Li, whereby he succinctly presented China's long-term vision for development in front of world business and political leaders.^[4] In particular, Li briefed the WEF on China's commitment to sustainable development, green energy, decrease the income gap, and the modernization of key strategic industries.^[4] While reiterating China's commitment to peaceful development and its focus in increasing domestic demand in the face of external pressures during the global financial crisis, Li also warned against protectionism, saying "opening up can be both bilateral and multilateral... in this sense, one plus one is more often than not bigger than two." He also touched upon the importance of international development, and international financial reform. He called for a global governance structure that was "more reflective of the changes in the global political and economic landscape."^[5]

In February 2010, Li gave a speech to ministerial and provincial-level leaders about the importance of changing the economic structure of the country to be better poised for future growth. The speech was published with minor omissions in the 1 June issue of Qiushi, the Communist Party's political theory publication. Li said that China has come to a historical juncture whereby a change in the economic structure must take place for the country to continue its path of growth. Li particularly emphasized the need to boost domestic consumption, and said that urbanization is crucial in this phase.^[6] Li also emphasized that China should be moving towards a more middle class-oriented society with an "olive"-shaped wealth distribution, with the majority of the country's population and wealth belonging to the middle class.^[7]

He has also reiterated the importance of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization in China in order to improve its competitiveness, food security, energy security, affordable housing and healthcare.^[8]

In August 2011, Li went on an official visit to Hong Kong, including a trip to the University of Hong Kong. The political sensitivities and heightened security surrounding the event resulted in the Hong Kong 818 incident, an event that caused controversy in the territory.

Personal life[link]

Li is married to Cheng Hong, a professor at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. His father-in-law was once the vice-secretary of the Communist Youth League Central Committee.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Li Keqiang

• 中国政治明星李克强甩掉河南“穷帽子” (Chinese)
• A Louie & Associates Articles: President Hu's Top 4 Aides (2007)
• 胡錦濤愛將李克強的仕途和足跡 (Chinese)
• 李克强出身非平民，成长靠恩师 (Chinese)

v t e Members of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China General Secretary 1. Hu Jintao Other members 2. Wu Bangguo 3. Wen Jiabao 4. Jia Qinglin 5. Li Changchun 6. Xi Jinping 7. Li Keqiang 8. He Guoqiang 9. Zhou Yongkang

v t e First Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China Chen · Lin · Deng · Wan · Yao · Zhu · Li L. · Huang · Wu (acting) · Li K. List of Vice premiers of the People's Republic of China

v t e Senior members of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Premier Wen Jiabao Vice Premiers Li Keqiang Hui Liangyu Zhang Dejiang Wang Qishan State Councilors Liu Yandong Liang Guanglie Ma Kai Meng Jianzhu Dai Bingguo Secretary-General Ma Kai

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Lai Changxing (born 1958) began as a Chinese businessman and entrepreneur from Jinjiang, Fujian, People's Republic of China. He was the founder and Chairman of the lucrative Yuanhua Group, based in the Special Economic Zone of Xiamen. At his height he has been credited with converting China from communism to capitalism and bringing the country into the World Trade Organization.^[1] He imported foreign products like cars, cigarettes and was responsible for one-sixth of the national oil imports at one time.^[1] In the late 1990s he was implicated in corruption scandals involving a large smuggling ring. By 1999 he was described by several media organizations as "China's most wanted fugitive" and was arrested.^[2]

Lai evaded Chinese authorities and went to Canada, where he resided in Vancouver. After a lengthy extradition battle and diplomatic negotiations Canadian authorities extradited him to China on July 22, 2011 upon promises that he would not be executed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.^[3]

Names[link]

Despite building a massive wealth empire, he often handed money taken from the government to the poor, where his style has been compared to that of Robin Hood.^[1][4] He has also been referred as "Gentleman thief" and "Bandit King".^[5][6] He also has some common nicknames such as "Fat Lai", "Fatty Lai".

Early years[link]

Lai was born one of eight siblings in Jinjiang, Fujian province in 1958, year of the Great Leap Forward.^[7][8] He grew up in Shaocuo village (烧厝村).^[8] He nearly starved to death due to the Great Chinese Famine,^[1] but his family survived because his father converted a swamp into a personal vegetable field during the difficult years.^[8] Lai received almost no formal education as he spent one year in school before the Cultural Revolution shut his school down.^[8] However, he received three years of education, according to some sources.^[9]

Career[link]

Factory worker[link]

When Lai was age 18, Mao Zedong died and businesses were allowed to function again under Deng Xiaoping. He began working at a farming machinery factory before it shutdown.^[8] At 20 he started a business making simple car parts. The business took off and turned into an empire. Within a decade he was the country's biggest private car importer.^[1]

TV business[link]

In 1990 Lai tried to run a business to import duty-free TVs, where he made thousands. Two government officials from Shaocuo demanded fees be paid to them.^[10] When Lai refused, the two officials went to his house. At the time Lai was not home, but his sister was. The officials asked for business accounts, but she refused to give in.^[10] She was then beaten severely and sent to the hospital. The officials then started a tax fraud case. Lai would win in court, but his revenge campaign against Communist officials would tie up his businesses.^[10] Lai left Shaocuo and from this point on, played by the Communist party rule to bribe everyone.^[10]

Yuanhua group[link]

In 1994 Lai founded Fairwell Group, also known as Yuanhua Group (远华集团有限公司), a prominent group of upstart companies that took advantage of the economic boom of Xiamen's status as a Special Economic Zone.^[11] The group was heavily involved in the importing/smuggling of cars, cigarettes, oil. The group invested heavily in the city's real estate, hotels, clubs, roads and other infrastructures.^[12] Lai also has his own brand of Fairwell cigarettes.^[13]

In the mid 1990s Xiamen no longer regulated maximum building heights. Many rich business men tried to build the tallest skyscrapers. Lai build the 88-floor Yuanhua tower and the Yuanhua International Centre with a ground breaking ceremony attended by 2000 guests. Each guest received a 3000 yuan red envelope.^[14] Lai had prominent connections with the Fujian power elite; he was also a member of the Provincial Consultative Conference.

Lai was believed to be the mastermind of a US$10 billion scheme, during which he allegedly bribed high level officials in the administration of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone in order to smuggle luxury cars and entire tanker-loads of oil into the country. The smuggling ring fraudulently avoid US$3.6 billion in taxes and fees.^[15] Chinese authorities do not comment on allegations that Lai's Yuanhua group was also a conduit for clandestine military shipments, such as Silkworm missiles.

In 1996 Xiamen airport's terminal building 2 funded by Lai was one of the biggest airport structure in the country.^[16][17] In 1997 Xiamen's party secretary even made him an honorary citizen (厦门荣誉市民).^[13][16] In 1998 he spent 2 million yuan to purchase a football team based in Foshan, Guangzhou and disbanded the team. He then moved all the players to Xiamen to create the Xiamen Lanshi F.C., and helped the team promote to the Chinese Super League.^[16] He even made his own film starring himself as a football star to improve his image.^[13]

He build a 7-story building called the Red mansion (红楼), named after the classical story Dream of a Red Mansion.^[18] The mansion hired girls that were at least 5 ft 6 inches tall and have a highschool diploma at a salary of US$1000 a month. The girls were offered as sex mistresses and prostitutes to government officials.^[18]

Lai has his own Forbidden City replica (远华影视城) built with US$20 million that act as a film production studio.^[18][19][20] He typically drove sedans.^[20][21] His armoured Mercedes was formerly owned by Chinese president Jiang Zemin.^[22]

Relationships with officials and celebrities[link]

Lai is known to be financially linked with high-ranking Chinese officials and celebrities. Some of the people include Ji Shengde, major general of military intelligence for the People's Liberation Army.^[23] Ji Shengde is the son of former Secretary General of the State Council Ji Pengfei.

Singer Dong Wenhua was offered 10 million yuan if she took her clothes off for Lai, who was drunk at the time. She did take off her clothes for the money, and disappeared from public view. She returned to state-run television after 3 years.^[23] Others include Li Jizhou (李纪周), deputy minister for public security and Xu Ganlu (许甘露), Immigration secretary.^[23][24] Other corrupt officials include Liu Feng (刘丰),^[25] Zhuang Rushun (庄如顺),^[26] Lan Fu (蓝甫),^[27] Yang Qianxian (杨前线),^[28] Shi Zhaobin (石兆彬),^[28] Zhao Keming (赵克明).^[25] Some of them have already received sentences in the past.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, known for his anti-corruption stands and known for saying Lai needs to be executed many times publicly, actually met Lai twice.^[23] In one meeting an offer was made for Lai to pay US$125 million in exchange for amnesty.^[23] This suggested the entire government knew of Lai's corruption for a long time.^[23] Lai also gave money to Zhu Niuniu, son of former deputy commander of China's 31st army from Xiamen. Zhu constantly threatened to expose Lai's smuggling if he did not help him with his financial problem from gambling at the Macau casinos.^[29]

Lai himself was an apprentice to then General secretary Jiang Zemin.^[23] At the height of Lai's corruption in the 1990s, the Fujian party chief was Jia Qinglin.^[9] Xi Jinping was the Fujian governor.^[30] Xi is scheduled to be the next General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after Hu Jintao.^[31]

Emigration[link]

Hong Kong[link]

Lai resided in Fujian province before he moved to Hong Kong in April 1991.^[7] While at HK, the Chinese government pursued him. Lai explained to the HK immigration department that he was in HK because he was a friend of Leung Kam-kwong, a HK officer who died in honor during the 2000 HK immigration center fire.^[15][32][33] Because of this claimed relationship with the officer, he was hinted of an arrest warrants after him by the immigration department. The department then suggested he move to Canada.^[15] The HK government later responded that the claim was totally baseless as the officer was already dead and cannot defend himself.^[15]

Canada[link]

Lai fled to Canada with his wife Zeng Mingna (曾明娜) and children in August 1999.^[11] He paid US$1 million in cash for a house in South Granville Rise Vancouver.^[15] His kids went to private schools at a cost of US$4,000 a year and his wife opened a bank account with a deposit of US$1.5 million.^[15] They were chauffeur-driven around in a US$90,000 SUV.^[15] In 1999 he was detained apparently caught on a 28 day gambling spree at Niagara Falls casino.^[15] Lai was a regular customer at the casino where at one time bought as much as US$3 million worth of chips. Canadian police noticed him and suspected he was involved in money laundering or loan-sharking.^[15]

The family used a HKSAR passport to emigrate to Canada.^{[34][35][36][37]} Following heavy pressure from Beijing, Lai's Hong Kong permanent residency and HKSAR passport were revoked in 2002 by the Hong Kong Government, saying that he obtained the status dishonestly.^[38] Lai divorced his wife in June 2005.^[9] In 2009 Lai was granted a working permit and worked at a Vancouver real-estate company as a consultant.^[9]

Charges[link]

The Chinese government has refused to drop the charges laid against him, and seeks his extradition. In the same corruption case, one of the largest in modern Chinese history, many high-level municipal and provincial officials were sacked and a few were sentenced to life in prison or death. The complex smuggling case shifted the entire political scene in Fujian by the late 1990s. A special task force operation was created by the government to track down Lai on April 20, 1999, called "4.20" (420专案组) with about 1200 investigators.^[39][40]

Lai has denied criminal wrongdoing, and stated that the allegations are politically motivated. Others like Pierre Lemieux defended Lai, saying he is only a criminal because of China's communist economic system and that with a free market, there would be no need for smugglers like Lai.^[41] Mainland Chinese websites could write about Lai as long as he was depicted as evil.^[15]

Lai's attorney, Winnipeg lawyer David Matas, says it is doubtful Lai could ever get a fair trial in China, given the extent of communist party influence in the opaque judicial system. Matas has filed for an assessment of whether Lai's family are at risk if they are returned to China. As long as immigration officials are considering this request, he says, they may not be removed from Canada.

Nevertheless, Lai has repeatedly been denied political refugee status in Canada, most recently in September 2005 by the Supreme Court in Ottawa. This seconded the Federal Court of Appeal, which in April had refused to hear Lai's appeal of the June 2002 Refugee Board decision, on the grounds that Lai and his wife failed to meet the standards to be designated as refugees.

Canada does not have the death penalty and is prohibited from deporting accused criminals to countries where they will face capital punishment. China claimed that he would not be executed if extradited from Canada. Canadian courts did not believe this guarantee, due to certain CPC bias in any trial and as 14 others involved in the complex Xiamen racket have already been executed. Svend Robinson, then New Democratic Party member of parliament for Burnaby-Douglas, also noted that Lai's brother died in a Fujian labour-camp after receiving a lesser sentence. The likelihood of a de facto death sentence remains an obstacle to his deportation.

On February 3, 2009, the Canadian Government granted Lai a work permit. Canadian officials have acknowledged that Lai does not have access to the vast fortune they thought he had upon arrival in Canada back in 1999. Lai has said his legal and living expenses are being funded by friends, whom he has declined to identify, saying they could be in danger if the Chinese government knew their names.^[42] Though the Canadian government allowed him to swap their detention cell for a luxury apartment in Burnaby Vancouver.^[43]

On July 8, 2011, John Baird, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, said that, the extradition of Lai must accord to the program of Canadian Laws independently. In early time, Lai's Refugee Application was refused, with the possibility of extradition to China.

Extradition[link]

Lai's corruption is known to have reached the top levels of the Chinese government.^[44] He has publicly declared in the past that if he returned to China: "many high government officials will not be able to sleep. Incidents will happen."^[45][46] In relation to the case, 14 people have already been executed, about 300 provincial officials have already been put on trial.^[47] Since 2002 Beijing sent secret police to follow him wherever he went.^[47]

On July 22, 2011, Lai Changxing was extradited to China. He was escorted to Vancouver International Airport and boarded Air Canada flight 29 for Beijing. He was handed over to the Chinese Police on July 23, 2011, and signed an arrest warrant issued for his arrest upon his arrival in Beijing.^[48] Spokesman of the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs has expressed satisfaction concerning this decision, referring to Lai as responsible for the "biggest economic crime in the history of the People's Republic of China."^[49]

Sentence[link]

On May 18, 2012, Lai Changxing was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of smuggling and bribery by the Intermediate People’s Court in Xiamen. In addition, all of his property was confiscated.^[50]

Further reading[link]

• August, Oliver (2007). Inside the Red Mansion: On the Trail of China's Most Wanted Man. John Murray. ISBN 0-618-71498-7. 

External links[link]

• A short film about the making of the book Inside the Red Mansion by Oliver August.

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2011)

The Gang of Four (simplified Chinese: 四人帮; traditional Chinese: 四人幫; pinyin: Sìrén bàng) was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The members consisted of Mao Zedong's last wife Jiang Qing, the leading figure of the group, and her close associates Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen.

The Gang of Four effectively controlled the power organs of the Communist Party of China through the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution, although it remains unclear which major decisions were made through Mao Zedong and carried out by the Gang, and which were the result of the Gang of Four's own planning.

The Gang of Four, together with disgraced Communist general Lin Biao, were labeled the two major "counter-revolutionary forces" of the Cultural Revolution and officially blamed by the Chinese government for the worst excesses of the societal chaos that ensued during the ten years of turmoil. Their downfall in a coup d'état on October 6, 1976, a mere month after Mao's death, brought about major celebrations on the streets of Beijing and marked the end of a turbulent political era in China.

Formation[link]

The group was led by Jiang Qing, and consisted of three of her close associates, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen. Two other men who were already dead in 1976, Kang Sheng and Xie Fuzhi, were named as having been part of the "Gang". Chen Boda and Mao Yuanxin, the latter being Mao's nephew, were also considered some of the Gang's closer associates.

Most Western accounts consider that the actual leadership of the Cultural Revolution consisted of a wider group, referring predominantly to the members of the Central Cultural Revolution Group. Most prominent was Lin Biao, until his purported flight from China and death in a plane crash in 1971. Chen Boda is often classed as a member of Lin's faction rather than Jiang Qing's.^[1]

Role[link]