Jiang Qing or Chiang Ch'ing (both: jyäng jĭng), 1914–91, Chinese Communist political leader, wife of Mao Zedong Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung (mou dzŭ-d
..... Click the link for more information. . Born Li Yun-ho, she changed her name to Lan Ping in 1938 when beginning an acting career, joining the Communist party the same year. In 1939, she married Mao Zedong and thereafter remained in the background of Chinese Communist affairs until the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution Cultural Revolution, 1966–76, mass mobilization of urban Chinese youth inaugurated by Mao Zedong in an attempt to prevent the development of a bureaucratized Soviet style of Communism.
..... Click the link for more information. (1966–76). Appointed deputy director (1966) of the Cultural Revolution, she incited radical youths against senior party and government officials, and replaced nearly all earlier works of art with revolutionary Maoist works. A member of the politburo (1969–76), she was one of the most powerful political figures during Mao's last years. For her role in the Cultural Revolution she was arrested (Oct., 1976) by Hua Guofeng Hua Guofeng or Hua Kuo-feng (both: hwä gwôfŭng), 1920–, Chinese Communist leader.
..... Click the link for more information. , Mao's successor, and sentenced to die (later commuted to life imprisonment).

Bibliography

See R. Witke, Comrade Chiang Ch'ing (1977) and R. Terrill, The White-boned Demon (1989).

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.

Jiang Qing, Chiang Ch'ing

1913--91, Chinese Communist actress and politician; widow of Mao Tse-tung. She was a leading member of the Gang of Four