Liu Lantao (; November 1910 – 31 December 1997) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Early life

Liu was born in

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

Province in 1910. After participating in the

May Thirtieth Movement The May Thirtieth Movement () was a major labor and anti-imperialist movement during the middle-period of the Republic of China era. It began when the Shanghai Municipal Police opened fire on Chinese protesters in Shanghai's International Settle ...

of 1925 at the age of 14, Liu joined the

Communist Youth League of China The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...

in 1926 and the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

in September 1928 at the age of 17. Liu and fellow communist Liu Zhidan organized a resistance movement to the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

in northern Shaanxi. In August 1930, Liu was captured and imprisoned. After his release, he went to

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

Province, where he was betrayed, captured a second time and imprisoned in

Beiping "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

alongside An Ziwen and

Bo Yibo Bo Yibo (; 17 February 1908 – 15 January 2007) was a Chinese politician. He was one of the most senior political figures in China during the 1980s and 1990s. After joining the Chinese Communist Party when he was 17, he worked as a Communist P ...

. In September 1936, Liu and others were freed following the efforts of the communist underground, and he started work in

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

Sino-Japanese War

At the start of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, Liu went to the main communist base at the border of Shaanxi and

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

Province. In 1938, he was sent to the border area of

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

, Hebei and

Chahar Province Chahar ( mn, , Чахар; ), also known as Chaha'er, Chakhar or Qahar, was a province of the Republic of China in existence from 1912 to 1936, mostly covering territory in what is part of Eastern Inner Mongolia. It was named after the Chahar ...

to assist

Peng Zhen Peng Zhen (pronounced ; October 12, 1902 – April 26, 1997) was a leading member of the Chinese Communist Party. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, but was pu ...

and

Nie Rongzhen Nie Rongzhen (; December 29, 1899 – May 14, 1992) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and one of ten Marshals in the People's Liberation Army of China. He was the last surviving PLA officer with the rank of Marshal. Biography ...

. In 1944, he arrived in

Yan'an Yan'an (; ), alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an ...

to serve as an alternate member of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chinese Civil War

At the start of the second phase of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, Liu assisted the communist leadership in transferring from northern Shaanxi to the Shanxi-Hebei-Chahar base area. When the base area merged with that on the border of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

Province, Liu was one of those responsible for the entirety of northern China.

Post-1949

After the formation of the

, Liu served as a full member of the

8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1956 to 1969. It was preceded by the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It held 12 plenary sessions in this period of 13 years. It was the longest serv ...

. He was one of those who investigated the case of Liu Qingshan (1916-1952) and Zhang Zishan (1914-1952), two communist officials who used their positions for private gain. Liu and Zhang were both publicly executed. At the start of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Liu was caught up in the case of the

61 Renegades The Case of the 61 Renegades Clique () was created during the Cultural Revolution by Kang Sheng. Members *high-ranking officials (22 people): Bo Yibo, Liu Lantao, An Ziwen, Yang Xianzhen, Zhou Zhongying, Ma Huizhi, Xu Zirong, Fu Yutian, Wang Hefen ...

alongside Bo Yibo, An Ziwen and others. As a result, he was imprisoned for 8 years, during which time his wife committed suicide. In 1978, after his release, Liu was named vice-chair of the

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD; ) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is officially tasked with "united front work". For this endeavo ...

. In July 1979, Liu was made a vice-chairman of the 5th CPPCC and in September of that was selected as a member of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He served on the

Central Advisory Commission The Central Advisory Commission () (CAC) was a body of the Chinese Communist Party that existed during the era of the paramount leadership of Deng Xiaoping. The body was supposed to provide "political assistance and consultation" to the Party' ...

from September 1982 to September 1992. He was made a vice-chairman of the 6th CPPCC in June 1983. Liu died in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

on 31 December 1997.

References

*西北局第一书记刘澜涛整肃习仲勋胡耀邦内情 *原西北局第一书记刘澜涛整人的真面 *刘澜涛同志生平原载《光明日报》 {{CPPCC Vice-Chairpersons 1910 births 1997 deaths People's Republic of China politicians from Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shaanxi Alternate members of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference 61 Renegades