Wei Guoqing (;
Zhuang: Veiz Gozcing; 2 September 1913 – 14 June 1989) was a Chinese government official, military officer and political commissar of
Zhuang ethnicity. He served as the Chairman of
Guangxi from 1958 to 1975 and on the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
's
Politburo (1973–1982) and as Director of the
People's Liberation Army's
General Political Department (1977–1982). Wei was one of the few members of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th
Central Committees (1969–1987) and the 10th through 12th politburos not purged during the
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) or
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
's backlash. He was also a Vice Chair of the
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2,9 ...
Standing Committee (1975–1989) and of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (1964–1983).
Biography
Wei was born in
Donglan, Guangxi, to a poor Zhuang minority family. He joined the
Chinese Red Army
The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communis ...
at the age of 16 (1929) and the CPC in 1931. He rose to the rank of battalion commander in the Seventh Army under Deng Xiaoping and was a regimental commander on the
Long March
The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...
. After the Long March he served in the 344th Brigade, and then marched south under
Huang Kecheng's 5th Column in January 1940. By 1944, he commanded the 4th Division of the
New Fourth Army
The New Fourth Army () was a unit of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China established in 1937. In contrast to most of the National Revolutionary Army, it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and not by the ruling Ku ...
, and later three columns (the 2nd, 10th and 12th) of the
North Jiangsu Army in the
Huai-Hai Campaign. In 1948, Wei held off the Nationalist 2nd Army Corps of Qiu Qingquan and 100 tanks of the 5th Corps under the command of Jiang Weiguo (
Chiang Wei-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek's son) in a decisive delaying action in the Huai-Hai Campaign. In 1949, Wei was deputy political commissar of General
Ye Fei's Tenth Army Group of the
Third Field Army
The Third Field Army was one of the five main forces of the Communist Party's People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War. It was established in early 1949. Initially known as the East China Field Army, it was formed by the New Fourth ...
.
Vietnam
Wei was deeply involved in China's relations with North Vietnam from 1950. In April of that year,
Liu Shaoqi sent him to Vietnam as head of the Chinese Military Advisory Group, to advise
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
on fighting the French;
In October 1953, Wei reportedly personally gave
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
a copy of the French Navarre plan.
In June 1954, Wei attended the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina with Premier
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 January 1976. Zhou served under Chairman Ma ...
, USSR Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dat ...
, Vietnamese representative
Phạm Văn Đồng
Phạm Văn Đồng (; 1 March 1906 – 29 April 2000) was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam following reunification of North and South Vietnam ...
, US State Department official
Bedell Smith and UK Deputy Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs for Administration
Anthony Eden. Wei was specifically instructed to discuss military matters with the Vietnamese delegation when Molotov, Smith and Eden were not present.
When formal military ranks were introduced in 1955, Wei Guoqing was made a general, and in 1956 became an Alternate Member of the
Central Committee at the
Eighth National Party Congress.
Guangxi and Guangdong
After returning to China, Wei moved to Nanning, Guangxi, where he was the senior party (1961-GPCR) and government (1955-GPCR) official in Guangxi Autonomous Region for an unusually long period. It was from Guangxi and Yunnan that Chinese troops entered Vietnam in 1965–70.
In his role as the senior-most official in Guangxi, Wei hosted the January 1958 Nanning Conference, attended by Chairman
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
and most of the very top leadership. While Wei was a junior among the heavyweights, he was present at one of the decisive
Great Leap Forward discussions where outrageous targets were approved.
General Wei was named 1st Political Commissar of the
Guangxi Military District (MD) in January 1964, a post he held until October 1975. He added the leadership of the CPC committee in February 1971.
During the Cultural Revolution, Wei managed to keep control of Guangxi. In March 1967, Zhou Enlai ordered the establishment of the "Guangxi Revolutionary Preparatory Group", headed by incumbent CPC 1st Party Secretary Wei. However, Wei was beaten by a Guangxi-origin mob in August while visiting Beijing. In 1968, the "Guangxi April 22 Revolutionary Action Command" opposed Wei Guoqing's leadership while the "Guangxi United Command of Proletarian Revolutionaries" supported him.
Central Leadership
In August 1982, Liberation Army Daily, the newspaper directly under General Political Department Director Wei's authority, published a broadside against "bourgeois liberalization" that was seen as an attack on Deng Xiaoping's policies just prior to the 12th Party Congress. As a result, Wei was dismissed, and replaced by General Yu Qiuli.
[Lampton, David M., Paths to Power: Elite Mobility in Contemporary China (Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies, Volume 55, The University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, Ann Arbor 1986), , p. 197] He resigned from his posts in 1985 and died in Beijing in June 1989.
See also
*
Guangxi Massacre
The Guangxi Massacre (), or Guangxi Cultural Revolution Massacre (), was a series of events involving lynching and direct massacre in Guangxi during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). The official record shows an estimated death toll from 10 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Guoqing
1913 births
1989 deaths
People from Hechi
Zhuang people
Counter-Japanese Military and Political University alumni
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Guangxi
People's Republic of China politicians from Guangxi
Chinese people of World War II
People of the Cultural Revolution
Delegates to the 1st National People's Congress
People of the Chinese Civil War
People's Liberation Army generals from Guangxi
Governors of Guangdong
Political office-holders in Guangxi
Presidents of Guangxi University
Members of the 12th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 11th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 10th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Alternate members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress
Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference