Liu Shaoqi
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Liú Shàoqí (Simplified Chinese: 刘少奇 Traditional Chinese: 劉少奇 Wade-Giles: Liu Shao-ch'i) (November 24, 1898 – November 12, 1969) was a leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the People's Republic of China.
Born into a rich peasant family in Yinshan, Hunan province, Liu received his university education at the University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow, USSR in 1921 and joined the CPC in the same year. He went back to China in 1922, and led several railway workers' strikes. During the period of 1925 to 1926, he led many anti-imperialism movements and strikes in Hubei and Shanghai. In 1927 he was elected to the Central Committee.
In 1932 he became the CPC General Secretary of Fujian Province. Two years later Liu joined the Long March and was one of the supporters of Mao Zedong during the Zunyi Conference. In 1936 he was the General Secretary of Northern China, leading the anti-Japanese movements in that area. Liu was elected as the CPC General Secretary in 1943. During the Civil War, Liu was the Deputy President of the CPC.
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Liu was elected as the president of PRC by the Second and Third National People's Congress. Liu contributed to the economic developments of Mainland China in the early 1950s.
In the 1960s he also helped the country to recover from the economic disaster caused by the Great Leap Forward movement started by Mao Zedong. He was humiliated during the Cultural Revolution led by Mao and the Gang of Four, being labeled as a "traitor", "scab", "Chinese Khrushchev", "the biggest capitalist-roader in the Party". As State President, he was confined under terrible conditions in an isolated cell in Henan, which led to his death in 1969.
After Deng Xiaoping came to power in 1978, Liu was politically rehabilitated, with a belated state funeral over a decade after his death.
Best known writings: "How to be a Good Communist" (1939), "On the Party" (1945), "Internationalism and Nationalism" (1952).
See also: History of the People's Republic of China
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Last updated: 05-06-2005 14:30:04
