Jiang Qing summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Jiang Qing.

Jiang Qing , or Chiang Ch’ing orig. Li Jinhai, (born 1914?, Zhucheng, Shandong, China—died May 14, 1991, Beijing), Third wife of Mao Zedong and member of the radical Gang of Four. Jiang married Mao in the 1930s but entered politics only in the 1960s. As first deputy head of the Cultural Revolution, Jiang acquired far-reaching powers over China’s cultural life and oversaw the total suppression of a wide variety of traditional cultural activities. Arrested after Mao’s death and accused of fomenting the widespread civil unrest that characterized the Cultural Revolution, she refused to confess guilt and received a suspended death sentence that was commuted to life imprisonment. Her death was reported as a suicide.

Chinese Communist Party Summary

Chinese Communist Party (CCP), political party of China. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the CCP has been in sole control of that country’s government. The CCP was founded as both a political party and a revolutionary movement in 1921 by revolutionaries such as Li

Mao Zedong Summary

Mao Zedong was the principal Chinese Marxist theorist, soldier, and statesman who led his country’s communist revolution. Mao was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1935 until his death, and he was chairman (chief of state) of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1959 and

Cultural Revolution Summary

Cultural Revolution, upheaval launched by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong during his last decade in power (1966–76) to renew the spirit of the Chinese Revolution. Fearing that China would develop along the lines of the Soviet model and concerned about his own place in history, Mao threw

communism Summary

Communism, political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of