Ye Qun

Ye Qun (Chinese: 叶群 / 葉群; Pinyin: Yè Qún) (* 1917; † September 13, 1971 ), original name: Ye Jingyi (Chinese: 叶静宜; Pinyin: Yè Jìngyí), was a Chinese politician and the wife of Lin Biao (林彪), the former Vice Party Chairman of the People's Republic of China .

youth

Ye Qun was born in Minhou (Fuzhou) in the Fujian Province of China . In 1935 she attended a middle school affiliated with the Beijing Pedagogical University and took part in the anti-Japanese demonstrations by Beijing students on December 9, 1935. Early in the Second Sino-Japanese War , she briefly joined one of the Guomindang controlled youth organization. She later went to Yan'an and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) there in 1938 .

family

Ye Qun married Lin Biao in 1942 , with whom she had two children: their son Lin Liguo (林立果), who was also known as "Tiger" (老虎), and their daughter Lin Liheng (林立恒), who was also Lin Doudou (林 豆豆) was called. Ye Qun used to call Lin Biao "101", which was his code name during the war.

Political career

After the communists came to power in 1949, Ye Qun took on the role of Lin Biao's secretary. She began to take an active part in politics when, in late 1965, she helped Lin Biao bring down his opponent, Luo Ruiqing , the People's Liberation Army Chief of Staff . As a result, although she was not a member of the CCP Central Committee at the time, she attended a Politburo meeting in December 1965 . In addition, she was given the floor three times and over a total of about ten hours she enumerated the "offenses" of Luo Ruiqing, who Ye said contradicted Maoist thought and tried to take over Lin Biao's position of power in the Ministry of Defense.

After 1967, Ye Qun was a member of the Cultural Revolution Group of the Whole Army (全军 文化 革命 小组) and later the leader of this group. In addition, she was one of the four founding members of the Administrative Bureau of the Central Military Commission, which was formed in August 1967. At the Chinese Communist Party's Ninth National Party Congress , held in 1969, she was appointed a member of the CCP Central Committee , a member of the Political Bureau, and chairman of the administrative office of the Central Military Commission.

Escape and death

In the course of the Cultural Revolution , power conflicts worsened between the group around Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing and the group around Lin Biao , to which Ye Qun also belonged.

It is said that Ye Qun decided in early September 1971 that her son Lin Liguo should assassinate Mao in Shanghai . This attack was thwarted by Mao, who was on an inspection tour at the time, changed his route at short notice. When Mao returned to Beijing earlier than expected on the evening of September 12 , it gave Ye Qun the impression that the plan had been exposed. Ye Qun then tried to flee to the Soviet Union by plane with her husband and son Lin Liguo, but their daughter Lin Liheng revealed the escape plan. So the family had to leave earlier than planned and boarded a not yet fully fueled plane with nine other people. The plane flew very low to evade the radar, which increased fuel consumption, and therefore crashed on September 13, 1971 about two hours after take-off over Öndörchaan , Mongolia. Ye Qun, Lin Biao and Lin Liguo died in the crash.

On August 20, 1973, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to subsequently exclude Ye Qun from the party forever.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 王乃 庄 / 王德 树: 中华人民共和国 人物 辞典 1949–1989, p. 74

literature

• Guo Jian / Yongyi Song / Yuan Zhou: Historical Dictionary of the Cultural Revolution . Lanham, Maryland 2006, ISBN 0810854619 . Pp. 342-344.

• Wang, Naizhuang 王乃 庄 / Wang, Deshu 王德 树: 中华人民共和国 人物 辞典 1949–1989 (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo Renwu Cidian 1949–1989) “Lexicon of personalities of the People's Republic of China 1949–1989” , 1989.