Xie Fuzhi (; 26 September 1909 – 26 March 1972) was a
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 ...
military commander,
political commissar, and
national security
National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...
specialist. He was born in 1909 in
Hong'an County
Hong'an County (), formerly named Huang'an County (; Hwangan), located to the north of Wuhan, is a county in Huanggang, Hubei province, People's Republic of China.
Hong'an is known as the "County of Generals" in that more than 200 (or 79 with the ...
,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
and 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 ...
in 1972. Xie was known for his efficiency and his loyalty to
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 during 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 ...
he played a key role in hunting down the Chairman's enemies in his capacity as
Minister of Public Security from 1959 to 1972.
Military career
He joined 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 1931, at the age of 22.
Prior to 1949, Xie served as a
political commissar in the 4th Column of the 2nd Field Army, under a commissars’
chain of command
A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part.
Milit ...
that led to Field Army Political Commissar
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 CC ...
. His unit was involved in the victorious
Huai Hai Campaign against the right-wing
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 ...
, after which it was merged into the newly formed 14th Army of the 2nd Field Army as the 41st Division. Xie emerged from the post-liberation reorganization as Political Commissar of the 4th Army, 2nd Field Army. He served with his former co-commander General
Chen Geng, and concurrently as Deputy Political Commissar of the 3rd Army, 2nd Field Army under General
Chen Xilian
Chen Xilian (pronounced ; 4 January 1915 – 10 June 1999) was a Chinese military officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. A prominent Mao Zedong, Maoist, he held very important positions in both military and political sph ...
, later to become another Cultural Revolution military figure in support of Chairman Mao.
The People's Republic
After the establishment 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 ...
in 1949 and his military activities, Xie was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Security, the number two figure in the security establishment. He also became first secretary of the CPC
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
Committee, serving in these capacities until 1959, when by decision of Mao he replaced
Luo Ruiqing
Luo Ruiqing (; May 31, 1906 – August 3, 1978), formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. He created the People's Republic of China's security and police appara ...
as
Minister of Public Security.
In 1955 he was conferred the rank of ''
Shang Jiang
(; ja, 将, Shō; ) is the rank held by general officers in some East Asian militaries. The ranks are used in both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan. The People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police use ...
'' (i.e., General).
He was elected member of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...
at the
Eight National Congress in 1956, and a member of the
Central Military Commission.
Cultural Revolution
Xie gave a speech in the summer of 1966, in his capacity as Minister of Public Security, that essentially gave ''carte blanche'' to the
Red Guards
Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...
to confiscate and kill their opponents. Xie, unlike other
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
(PLA) Generals, was fond of the Red Guards and sought to develop them as a parallel army, a special security force. The
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
, Xie's allies, had similar ideas about creating a paramilitary force to balance the power of the PLA. Some consider the speech he gave to be the trigger for the violence that followed.
[ and http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/VOS/Textbook_Links/SS/7th/docs/204.pdf, p. 3]
His staunch support for 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 ...
led him to be elected alternate member of the
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
, secretary of the
Secretariat
Secretariat may refer to:
* Secretariat (administrative office)
* Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...
and a member of the reorganized
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 ...
Committee in 1966. He was also a member of the powerful
Cultural Revolution Group
The (Central) Cultural Revolution Group (CRG or CCRG; ) was formed in May 1966 as a replacement organisation to the Central Committee Secretariat and the "Five Man Group", and was initially directly responsible to the Standing Committee of the Po ...
.
In 1967, as it was happening throughout the country starting from
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, in Beijing all power was passed to a new
revolutionary committee, of which Xie Fuzhi was elected chairman. He was preferred over CPC Beijing Committee Secretary
Li Xuefeng
Li Xuefeng (; 19 January 1907 – 15 March 2003) was a Chinese Communist politician. He occupied several prominent regional offices prior to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. In 1960 he became the first political commissar of the Be ...
who was deemed to be too hostile to the Red Guards. He was also first political commissar of the
Beijing Military Region
The Beijing Military Region was one of seven military regions for the Chinese People's Liberation Army. From the mid 1980s to 2017, it had administration of all military affairs within Beijing city, Tianjin city, Hebei province, Shanxi province, ...
.
At the same time, Xie launched an
anti-revisionist
Anti-revisionism is a position within Marxism–Leninism which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from his predecessor Joseph Stalin, ...
campaign within the security and intelligence personnel of the Ministry of Public Security, declaring it had followed a
counter-revolutionary
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
line under Luo Ruiqing. His active support for the Cultural Revolution led him to be elected full member of the Politburo at the Ninth Congress in 1969. In 1971, when the Beijing Party Committee was re-elected, he was appointed its first secretary.
Xie remained in charge of state security until his sudden death in 1972.
The Wuhan Incident
In July 1967, PLA
Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
Military Region Commander General
Chen Zaidao backed the more conservative Million Heroes Red Guard faction against its militant opponents, the Wuhan Workers’ General Headquarters (WWGH). 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, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
ordered General Chen to back down, and support the WWGH, but he refused to do so. Xie and
Wang Li were sent to Wuhan to persuade General Chen to obey Zhou’s orders. On July 20, PLA forces detained, slapped and humiliated Xie and allowed Wang to be held by the Million Heroes faction. Premier Zhou flew to Wuhan but was prevented from landing by a show of military force at the airport. At that point, the army sent in three infantry divisions and other units, and forced General Chen to surrender without a fight. Xie and Wang were welcomed back to Beijing by a mass rally in Tiananmen Square on July 25.
After returning to Beijing, Xie played a key role in providing military weapons to favored Red Guard factions, including the supply of 500 rifles to the Jinggangshan Commune of Beijing's Teacher's University.
Legacy
Xie died before the denunciation of the
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
in 1976, but he was identified in official documents, along with
Kang Sheng
Kang Sheng (; 4 November 1898 – 16 December 1975) was a Chinese Communist politician best known for having overseen the CCP's internal security and intelligence apparatus during the early 1940s and again at the height of the Cultural Revolut ...
, as equally responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and guilty of "anti-party activities". He was posthumously expelled from the Party in 1980 and his ashes were removed from the
Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery
The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In ...
.
See also
*
List of generals of the People's Republic of China
This is a list of marshals and full generals and admirals of the People's Republic of China, including all branches of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police.
Marshals
Ten PLA officers were awarded the rank of Marshal ('' ...
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Xie, Fuzhi
1909 births
1972 deaths
Anti-revisionists
Politicians from Huanggang
Mayors of Beijing
People of the Cultural Revolution
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei
People's Republic of China politicians from Hubei
Political office-holders in Yunnan
Ministers of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party
Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 9th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party