Song Renqiong (; 11 July 1909 – 8 January 2005), born Song Yunqin (), was a general in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

of the

People's Republic of China (PRC) 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 ...

and one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Biography

Song Renqiong was born in

Liuyang Liuyang () is a county-level city, the List of County-level divisions of Hunan by population, most populous and the easternmost county-level division of Hunan, Hunan Province, China; it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city o ...

Hunan Province Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

in 1909. During 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 T ...

, he was the vice director of the political department of the 129th Division. Toward the end 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 main ...

, he was the vice political commissar of the Northeastern Field Army. After the establishment of the PRC in 1949, he was the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s committee in

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in 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 Kunming. The province borders the ...

, Vice Secretary of the Southwestern Bureau of the CCP, Vice Secretary-general of the CCP Central Committee, minister of No. 2, No. 3 and No. 7 Mechanical Industry Department, and No. 1 Secretary of the Northeastern Bureau of CCP. He was the Vice Chairman of the 4th and 5th National Political Consultative Conference. He was an alternative member of the Politburo of the 8th CCP Central Committee, a Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the 11th CCP Central Committee, and a Politburo member of the 12th. Like many others, he was purged 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 goa ...

and rehabilitated after Mao's death. He was the vice-chairman of the PRC's

Central Advisory Committee 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' ...

and served under

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 China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...

. Although the commission was in theory a council of retired elders with no official power, members effectively held veto power over major policies and personnel affairs. During the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, Song was one of the most ardent supporters of Deng, who decided to use violence to crush the student movement. He was one of the influential Chinese leaders during the 80s and is considered to be one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Death

He died aged 95, on 8 January 2005 in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, following an illness. Though Song Renqiong had died before

Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang ( zh, 赵紫阳; pronounced , 17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He was the third premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 19 ...

, he had requested that his floral wreath and elegiac couplet appear in Zhao's funeral. His funeral was held on 15 January. The highest Chinese officials, including

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...

and

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as p ...

, attended his funeral. The Chinese media reported Song as "an outstanding member of the Communist Party, a great Communist soldier, a remarkable proletarian revolutionary and a prominent leader of the party's political work."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, Renqiong 1909 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Changsha Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hunan People's Republic of China politicians from Hunan Political office-holders in Yunnan Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese military personnel of World War II Members of the 12th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery

Biography

Death

See also

References