Jiang Qing

Question 1

When was Jiang Qing’s birth-death?

Answer 1

1914-1991

Question 2

What was her upbringing like?

Answer 2

• Born into poverty
• Only daughter of a prostitute
• Gave her very little affection

Question 3

Why did she travel to Yanan

Answer 3

• 1938
• To study Marxism further
• Became a leading actress in CCP stronghold
• 1939 Mao divorced his mentally ill wife and married Jiang

Question 4

What happened after the CCP takeover in 1949?

Answer 4

• Held posts in Ministry of Culture
• Emerged as a political mover during 1960s
• Appointed deputy director of the cultural revolution 1966
• 3 years later became member of Politburo

Question 5

What was Mao and Jiang’s relationship like?

Answer 5

• Jiang participated actively in public denigration of Mao’s enemies, particularly Li Shaoqi and Deng Xiaopong
• Worked together politically but lived separately
• Mao preferred company of mistresses and young peasant girls

Question 6

What happened by 1970s?

Answer 6

• Sino-soviet split and attempted coup launched by Lin Biao further destabilised the party hierarchy
• Jiang became associated with the GO4 (faction of party leaders who enjoyed Mao’s support)
• Became engaged in power struggle with a rival group that included Zhou Enlai and the repatriated Deng Xiaopong

Question 7

When and why did Jiang launch the ‘Criticise Lin, Criticise Confucius’ campaign?

Answer 7

• 1973
• Ultimately intended as a criticism of Zhou Enlai

Question 8

What happened by Mao’s death in 1976?

Answer 8

• GO4 in decline: members were denounced, purged from the party and given show trials
• Jiang’s defence was that she acted only on Mao’s orders

Question 9

What ultimately happened to Jiang?

Answer 9

• Sentenced to death
• Later commuted to life imprisonment
• Committed suicide in 1991, aged 77

Question 10

Arguments that Jiang was successful in the cultural revolution

Answer 10

• As ‘purifier of the nation’ created cultural policy that would reflect revolutionary China and suppress ‘Four olds’
• Commissioned series of opera-ballets that championed the ideals of the communist revolution of China: films of the ballets were viewed billions of times
• Traditional/Western art forms prohibited or redid ones for revolutionary purposes e.g wall paintings/posters
• Censorship ensured only writing, art, film and cultural media that were directly relevant to contemporary China could be produced

Question 11

Arguments that Jiang was unsuccessful in the cultural revolution

Answer 11

• Only limited number of revolutionary artistic works were produced, e.g only 8 opera-ballets, less than 150 revolution inspired novels published
• Requirement for all cultural activity to reflect political realty stifled creativity leading to artistic works that were often formulaic and lacked in quality
• Many of most talented artists, writers and performers either refused to work or were brutally persecuted resulting in a quantitative decline in cultural activity: some observers described China as a cultural wasteland