One of the most important things Mao Zedong did in his lifetime was to launch the Cultural Revolution on May 16, 1966.
Mao initially relied on a super-powerful institution he personally established – the Central Cultural Revolution Group. On May 28, 1966, the Central Cultural Revolution Group was established. The leader was Chen Boda; vice leaders were Jiang Qing, Wang Renzhong, Liu Zhijian, Zhang Chunqiao; members were Wang Li, Guan Feng, Qi Benyu, Yin Da, Mu Xin, Chen Yadong, Yao Wenyuan.
Mao’s wife Jiang Qing was a key figure in the Central Cultural Revolution Group. Initially, all 13 members of the Central Cultural Revolution Group were targets of the struggle sessions. However, later on, all 13 members became targets of struggle at different times.
At the end of 1966, Wang Renzhong, who had served as the vice leader of the Central Cultural Revolution Group for only half a year, was overthrown; later he was imprisoned in Qin Cheng for seven years.
The reason Wang Renzhong was appointed as the vice leader of the Central Cultural Revolution Group was crucially due to Mao Zedong’s appreciation of him.
During Mao’s talk about Wang Renzhong, although it was casual, it still indicated that at that time, Mao highly appreciated Wang Renzhong.
In June 1966, during the founding of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, there were supposed to be representatives from the six major bureaus of the country, but only two representatives were included: Wang Renzhong of the Central-South Bureau and Zhang Chunqiao of the East China Bureau; among the four deputy leaders of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, Wang Renzhong was ranked just below Mao’s wife Jiang Qing.
From the above situation, between 1953 and 1966, for 13 years, Mao was quite satisfied with Wang Renzhong’s capabilities, service, and loyalty; Wang Renzhong was one of the most trusted officials in Mao’s inner circle.
What were the reasons for Mao’s crackdown on Wang Renzhong? Based on the exposed “crimes” against Wang Renzhong, there are mainly four points:
Mao’s two main political enemies to be overthrown during the Cultural Revolution were Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.
Liu was the second most powerful figure in the Chinese Communist Party – the Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee and President of the country; Deng was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Mao deemed Liu as the “biggest capitalist-roader in the Party”; and Deng as the “second capitalist-roader in the Party”.
When Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, instead of being in Beijing, he was in Hangzhou. The first central document of the Cultural Revolution – the “May 16th Notice” was adopted on May 16, 1966, at the expanded meeting of the Central Committee chaired by Liu Shaoqi.
The “May 16th Notice” was actually a document to target Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. However, Liu and Deng were kept ignorant.
Liu and Deng thought that Mao’s initiation of the Cultural Revolution was another anti-rightist movement primarily targeting intellectuals.
Even the top leaders of the CCP, like Liu and Deng, were kept in the dark about Mao’s true intentions behind the Cultural Revolution; it was even more challenging for local officials like Wang Renzhong.
While Wang Renzhong was appointed as the vice leader of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, he still served as the First Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee and the Second Secretary of the Central-South Bureau (later the First Secretary after August 1966).
Though Wang Renzhong had been following Mao closely, his understanding of the Cultural Revolution at that time was aligning with Liu and Deng’s, considering it as another anti-rightist movement.
On June 4th to June 11th, 1966, Zao Baoqi, the Party Secretary of Hubei University, called two large school-wide assemblies based on instructions from the provincial committee, proposing the “Three Trusts” (trust in Wang Renzhong, trust in the Hubei Provincial Committee, trust that more than 95% of cadre at all levels are good), the “Three Unifications” (unified leadership, thinking, and action), and the “Unified Focus” (concentrated force, united externally against the criminal elements named in public reports by the provincial and municipal committees).
Zao Baoqi’s proposed “Three Trusts,” “Three Unifications,” and “Unified Focus” were the fundamental approach guided by Wang Renzhong during the Cultural Revolution in Hubei.
From a perspective of power struggle, Mao’s real intent behind initiating the Cultural Revolution was not only to overthrow Liu and Deng but also to eradicate Liu and Deng’s proxies from top to bottom and take over their power.
The first group of people utilized by Mao during the Cultural Revolution were passionate and fearless high school students lacking social experience, known for their outspokenness.
Following Liu and Deng’s strategies and Wang Renzhong’s understanding at the time, there had to be limitations on the students who responded to Mao’s call for rebellion. This was something Mao could not tolerate.
Within the Central Cultural Revolution Group, Mao’s wife Jiang Qing and his trusted Wang Renzhong were both vice leaders. While Mao employed these two individuals, he also made them mutually constrain each other.
By the end of July 1966, Wang Renzhong moved into the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing as a vice leader of the Central Cultural Revolution Group. As he continued to serve as the First Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee and the Second Secretary of the Central-South Bureau (later the First Secretary), Wang Renzhong brought his team from Wuhan to Beijing upon his arrival, setting up his office without any connection to the Central Cultural Revolution Group’s office, and many of Jiang Qing’s team members were unaware of his activities.
While on one hand, Mao conveyed his true intentions for the Cultural Revolution through Jiang Qing, he also had Wang Renzhong carry out various tasks without Jiang Qing’s knowledge.
While serving as the vice leader of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, Wang Renzhong was also an advisor to the Beijing Municipal Cultural Revolution. According to Mao’s instructions, he personally oversaw the Cultural Revolution at Tsinghua University and Peking University.
After the work groups sent by Liu and Deng left Tsinghua, he assigned his secretary and other staff from Hubei, along with 12 cadre members from the Political Academy of the PLA, to collaborate with Tsinghua University and its affiliated high schools through liaison officers. Wang Renzhong controlled the Tsinghua Cultural Revolution through these liaison officers.
Similarly, Wang Renzhong personally overseen the Cultural Revolution at Peking University. A leading figure in the Peking University Red Guard, Nie Yuanzi, recalled that after the work group at Peking University left, she encountered many new issues in the movement. When she wondered whom to report to, Wang Renzhong found her and stated that her cooperation was needed for significant matters in Peking University’s movement. At every step of setting up the Peking University’s Cultural Revolution Committee, Nie Yuanzi consulted Wang Renzhong.
These actions by Wang Renzhong caused dissatisfaction among Jiang Qing and her associates. Jiang Qing complained to Mao multiple times, alleging that Wang Renzhong was operating independently, creating a disruptive atmosphere and not consulting with other members of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, leading to escalating conflicts.
Following the 8th Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee in August 1966, Jiang Qing seized on a “Urgent Appeal” issued by the Western District Red Guards in Beijing to criticize Wang Renzhong repeatedly at internal meetings of the Central Cultural Revolution Group, accusing him of carrying out “conspiratorial activities behind the back of the Central Cultural Revolution Group.”
At the “Oath-taking Rally against the Capitalist Roaders at the Beijing Middle School” held on December 16, 1966, Jiang Qing launched a sudden attack on Wang Renzhong, publicly accusing him of being the “backstage” of a “conservative organization.” Jiang Qing didn’t inform Wang Renzhong in advance to attend the meeting and publicly called out his name during the speech.
At that time, Wang Renzhong was suffering from liver disease, and the combined toll of exhaustion and worsening mood landed him into a gloomy state, with daily bouts of low-grade fever, a pallid complexion, and increasing emaciation.
Nevertheless, even after hearing Jiang Qing’s incitements, Mao instructed the Central Cultural Revolution Group to hold meetings to criticize Wang Renzhong. In October 1966, Wang Renzhong left Beijing for Guangzhou to recuperate.
Subsequently, even during his recovery in Guangzhou, Wang Renzhong found no peace. On December 5, 1966, over 50 Red Guards from Wuhan’s Second and Third Corps and out-of-town areas formed a “Guangzhou Dedicated Wang Renzhong Rebel Faction,” and they seized Wang Renzhong for struggle sessions in Wuhan.
During the Cultural Revolution, one of Mao’s “trump cards” in humiliating the fallen targets was to pin them as “special agents.”
In 1968, using the pretext of “CC special agent,” Mao’s wife Jiang Qing incarcerated Wang Renzhong in Qin Cheng Prison. Through internal investigation and external inquiries by the Red Guards, it was eventually discovered that when Wang Renzhong was in high school, he had participated in a student organization. This student organization was an auxiliary organization of the Blue Shirt Society, which was the special agent organization of the KMT’s CC faction.
CC originated from the English abbreviation of the Central Club of the KMT. However, CC faction typically referred to the political faction and special agent organization within the KMT led by the Chen brothers, Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu. Bringing the initials of their surnames together forms CC.
In other words, Wang Renzhong had been associated with the KMT special agents in the past.
Later on, a younger party member, Cai Shadi, directly asked Wang Renzhong: “Uncle Wang, tell me the truth, are you really a CC special agent?”
Wang Renzhong vehemently replied, “No! I have never joined the CC, let alone been a CC special agent! Shadi, you must believe me. These are all rumors concocted by Jiang Qing. During my time in Qin Cheng imprisonment, they asked me countless times, pressuring me to confess to being part of the CC special agent organization. I firmly deny it; I allowed them to investigate, and if I had participated, they could have executed me!”
Wang Renzhong had never opposed Mao Zedong. Yet, during the Cultural Revolution, high-ranking officials who were toppled would be falsely accused of anti-Mao sentiments.
One day, a rebel stumbled upon a poem written by Wang Renzhong, referring to Mao as a “comrade,” a “brother.” The rebels viewed this as a treasure trove: “Hmph, you, Wang Renzhong, are audacious to address the great leader Mao as a brother!” Subsequently, the rebels in the Wuhan area reacted passionately, using this as a pretext to interrogate Wang Renzhong.
In 1959, Wang Renzhong accompanied Mao Zedong on a visit to Shaoshan. Mao wrote a poem titled “To Shaoshan”. Fond of literary pursuits, Wang Renzhong also penned a poem: “The scenery of Shaoshan remains, the world has undergone vicissitudes. Grand ambitions have realized significant accomplishments, why bother returning in glory?”
Once Wang Renzhong was exposed, this poem became incriminating evidence against him as being anti-Mao. Rebels believed that the poem, on one hand, likened Mao to a feudal emperor who returns in glory; on the other hand, using the phrase “why bother” was seen as opposing and ridiculing Mao’s visit to Shaoshan.
While undergoing repeated denunciations, rebels wrote a pair of antithetical couplets for Wang Renzhong: “Grand ambitions have turned to bubbles, lofty hats hang the plaque of returning in glory,” which was presented to Wang Renzhong, serving as vengeance for attacking Mao.
During the Cultural Revolution’s persecution of Wang Renzhong, at a deeper level, he also had his own reasons.
Representative of the First National Congress of the CCP, then member of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Wuhan University President, and Marxist theoretician Li Daz was persecuted to death during that time; Wang Renzhong held significant leadership responsibilities.
It’s said that in his final days, Wang Renzhong expressed regret for two individuals he believed he had wronged: Li Daz and Zhang Tixue.
While serving as the First Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee, Zhang Tixue was the Second Secretary of the Provincial Committee and the provincial governor. During the 1959 Anti-rightist Campaign initiated by Mao, Wang Renzhong had criticized Zhang Tixue for “rightist” tendencies.
Xinhua News Agency’s senior journalist Yang Jisheng hailed from Hubei’s Xishui County. His father had starved to death during the Great Leap Forward. He wrote a book named “Tombstone: The Great Famine of the 1960s in China,” in which he stated: “Zhang Tixue (Hubei Provincial Governor) mentioned during the Cultural Revolution that 300,000 people died of famine in Hubei, but based on Hubei’s population data, Hubei Province should have seen 500-600 thousand deaths due to starvation.
In 1989, Wang Renzhong wrote: “I have done self-criticisms multiple times within the Party and outside for the mistakes made during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘People’s Communes,’ and to this day, I still feel remorse.”
After the Cultural Revolution ended, the CCP shifted all responsibility for Wang Renzhong’s downfall during the Cultural Revolution to Jiang Qing and others. Jiang Qing once stated, “I am just a dog of Chairman Mao. If it weren’t for Mao’s consent or active intervention to protect Wang Renzhong, would I have dared to topple Wang Renzhong? It wouldn’t have been possible at all.”
From meeting Mao in 1953 to being brought down by Mao in 1966, Wang Renzhong faithfully followed, served, and closely followed Mao, but was eventually left behind. When Mao decided to turn against him, his ruthlessness and callousness chilled all people of conscience.
How did Mao reach this point? It was all for power. Those who obeyed him flourished, those who opposed him perished. Anyone who stood in his way, or whom he perceived as standing in his way, he ruthlessly brought down.
Initial publication by Dajiyuan.