Key figures in the Communist government

Liu Shaoqi

Key political thinker in the PRC. He was made chairman of the PRC after Mao stepped down from that position and he led the sweeping changes to restore the country after the failures of the Great Leap Forward. These reforms enraged Mao and he was a victim of political ousting in the Cultural Revolution.

Zhou Enlai

Premier of China from 1949 to 1976. He was the architect of Chinese foreign policy and he controlled the excesses of the cultural revolution.

Deng Xiaoping

Veteran of the long march he worked closely with Mao during the revolution. He was economic commissar under Mao and worked on the restoration post-GLF. He led China after Mao’s death until the Tiananmen square massacre

Lin Biao

A red army commander during the civil war and was made Defense Minister, Mao allocated him as his successor but he died in a plane crash after a failed coup attempt.

Jiang Qing

Mao’s wife and a devout revolutionary. Leader of the gang of four she had huge control in Shanghai and she was a key figure in the cultural revolution. She was sentenced to life imprisonment after Mao’s death and she killed herself in 1991.

Chen Yun

Leading economic planner in the CCP. He focused more on a central market over reform.

Zhu De

Founder of the PLA and marshal of the PRC he was influential as the PLA held such power under Mao

Peng Dehuai

Defense minister until his protests at the Lushan conference. At first he was only demoted but he was later arrested and imprisoned for life in 1970 as part of the cultural revolution.

Gao Gang

Held huge power in Manchuria, China’s most industrial developed region, as he held all four available regional posts. This power was a huge threat to Mao so he was arrested and imprisoned in 1954 and he killed himself in protest in 1955.

Rao Shushi

Key political figure in Shanghai and instrumental in central organization and early propaganda. Imprisoned along with Goa in 1954 and died in 1975