Zhang Chunqiao

Zhang Chunqiao, 1967

Zhang Chunqiao ( Chinese  張春橋  /  张春桥 , Pinyin Zhang Chunqiao , IPA (high Chinese) [ tʂɑŋ tʂʰúntɕʰjɑ̌ʊ ] W.-G. Chang Ch'un-chiao * 1 February 1917 in Heze , Republic of China ; † 21st April 2005 in Beijing , People's Republic of China ) was a top politician in the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution . Together with Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing , Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen , he belonged to the so-called gang of four .

biography

In the 1930s, Zhang Chunqiao worked as a writer in Shanghai . He joined the Chinese Communist Party after the 1938 Yan'an Conference . After the founding of the People's Republic of China he was entrusted with the publication of the liberation newspaper (解放 日报Jiefang Ribao ). He became acquainted with Jiang Qing and helped her start the Cultural Revolution . In 1966 he was party secretary of Shanghai. In 1967 he organized the Shanghai Commune and was elected to the Politburo Standing Committee in 1973 . In 1975, Zhang reached the height of his power when he was named deputy prime minister. But just one year later, in 1976, he was arrested in the case of the Gang of Four and sentenced to death in 1981 . That sentence was commuted to life imprisonment two years later .

In 2002, Zhang Chunqiao was released from custody on medical grounds. He then lived secluded in Shanghai and died of complications from cancer .

Publications

• Dschang Tschun-tjiao: On the all-round dictatorship over the bourgeoisie. Foreign Language Literature Publishing House, Beijing 1975
• Dschang Chun-tjiao: Report on the amendment of the constitution. (in: The Constitution of the People's Republic of China. / Documents of the 1st session of the IV National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. Publishing house for foreign-language literature, Beijing 1975)

Web links

• Literature by and about Zhang Chunqiao in the catalog of the German National Library
• David McNeill: Zhang Chunqiao: Propagandist of China's Gang of Four. In: The Independent . May 12, 2005 (English). 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Chunqiao is the first name.