18 Facts About Zhang Chunqiao

Zhang Chunqiao was a prominent Chinese political theorist, writer, and politician.

Zhang Chunqiao came to the national spotlight during the late stages of the Cultural Revolution, and was a member of the ultra-Maoist group dubbed the "Gang of Four".

Zhang Chunqiao rose to prominence after his October 1958 article entitled "Destroy the Ideology of Bourgeois Right" caught the attention of Mao Zedong, who ordered its reproduction in People's Daily.

In 1967, Zhang Chunqiao organized the Shanghai People's Commune and briefly became its chairman, effectively overthrowing the local Shanghai government and local party structures.

Zhang Chunqiao joined the Politburo in 1969, and its inner Standing Committee in 1973, reaching his zenith as the country's second-ranking vice premier in 1975.

Zhang Chunqiao was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, later commuted to life imprisonment, and then further reduced to 18 years.

Zhang Chunqiao was released from prison in 1998 to undergo medical treatment, and died in 2005.

Zhang Chunqiao first came to prominence as the result of his October 1958 article in Jiefang Daily entitled "Destroy the Ideology of Bourgeois Right".

Zhang Chunqiao was seen as one of Mao's firmest supporters as the chairman engaged in an ideological struggle within party leadership with rival revolutionary Liu Shaoqi.

Zhang Chunqiao spent much of the Cultural Revolution shuttling between Beijing and Shanghai.

Zhang Chunqiao arrived in Shanghai in November 1966 at representing the Cultural Revolution Group in their push to stop Cao Diqiu from dispersing workers in Anting.

Zhang Chunqiao signed the "Five-Point Petition of Workers", and in February 1967 organized the Shanghai People's Commune with Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan, essentially overthrowing the city government and local party structure, becoming chairman of the city's Revolutionary Committee, a title that essentially combined the former posts of mayor and party secretary.

In January 1975, Zhang Chunqiao became the second-ranked Vice Premier, and penned "On Exercising All-Round Dictatorship Over the Bourgeoisie" to promote the theoretical study of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Zhang Chunqiao was arrested along with the other members of the so-called "Gang of Four" in October 1976, as part of a conspiracy by Ye Jianying, Li Xiannian and the new party leader Hua Guofeng.

Zhang Chunqiao was expelled from the Communist Party in July 1977, and then sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 1984, alongside Jiang Qing.

Zhang Chunqiao's sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and was further reduced to 18 years in December 1997.

Zhang Chunqiao remained silent during his 1980 trial, and refused to speak until his relatives were allowed to visit him in prison years later; according to his daughter, Weiwei, he could barely talk by that time.

Zhang Chunqiao remained critical of the Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping and his successors in letters to his daughter, and stayed true to his Maoist beliefs, predicting the 21st century would see the triumph of socialist revolution in several countries.