Yang Shangkun was a Chinese Communist military and political leader, president of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated the party after the death of Mao Zedong.
18 Facts About Yang Shangkun
2.
One of the earliest supporters of Chinese economic reform, Yang Shangkun justified it with references to Vladimir Lenin and the New Economic Policy.
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Together with his half-brother, General Yang Baibing, Yang Shangkun effectively controlled the PLA for the entire 1980s and into the early 1990s.
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Yang Shangkun's downfall came in 1993, when he failed in his attempts to undermine the new leadership of Jiang Zemin and to retain control of the PLA, and was forced to retire by a coalition of Party elders, including Deng himself.
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Later in 1927 Yang Shangkun traveled to the Soviet Union and enrolled at the Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, where he studied Marxist theory and techniques of political organization and mobilization.
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Yang Shangkun was a member of a group of Chinese students who studied in Moscow and returned to China to take a leading role in the CCP, later known as the 28 Bolsheviks.
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On his return from Moscow in 1931, Yang Shangkun started his military career in the Chinese Red Army, serving as Director of the Political Department in the 1st Red Army and moving around different battle areas under the command of Zhu De and Zhou Enlai.
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In January 1939, Yang Shangkun became Secretary of the North China Bureau and worked with Zhu De and Peng Dehuai to cooperate with the military operations of the Eighth Route Army, including the Hundred Regiments Campaign.
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In 1941, Yang Shangkun returned to Yan'an and worked as personal aide to Mao.
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Yang Shangkun remained in prison until Mao died and Deng Xiaoping rose to power, in 1978.
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In 1982 Yang Shangkun was appointed as a full member of the Politburo.
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Yang Shangkun had a close friendship with Deng and shared many of Deng's long-term economic goals, but was far less enthusiastic about the agenda of political liberalization promoted by other senior leaders favored by Deng, including Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, Wan Li, and Hu Qili.
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Yang Shangkun justified his support of economic reforms by referencing Vladimir Lenin and the New Economic Policy, and he emphasized that the Communist Party should still enjoy overall control of the economy, even in private businesses, through the system of Party committees in all enterprises.
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Yang Shangkun always defended Mao Zedong as a great and historic leader, despite his own suffering at the hands of radical Maoists.
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In 1988, Yang Shangkun was appointed President of the People's Republic of China replacing Li Xiannian.
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Yang Shangkun was at first sympathetic to the students and sided with General Secretary Zhao Ziyang in supporting them.
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In May 1989 Yang Shangkun appeared on Chinese television, where he denounced the student demonstrations as "anarchy" and defended the imposition of martial law on several areas of Beijing affected by the protests.
18.
When Yang Shangkun resisted the rise of Jiang Zemin, whom Deng began to groom to succeed him as paramount leader, party elders, including Deng himself forced Yang Shangkun to retire in 1993, along with some of his family.