PROFILE THE WOMAN WHO COULD RULE CHINA AFTER MAO

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31498, 12 October 1967, Page 12

PROFILE THE WOMAN WHO COULD RULE CHINA AFTER MAO

[By

MARCELLE POIRIER,

“Yorkshire Post” correspondent in Hong Kong.j

currenpunaeni in nong Kong.j [Reprinted from the Yorkshire Post” by arrangement.]

A woman who 30 years ago was a beautiful but poorly-paid film actress, with very few clothes and hardly enough money for a bus fare, is now one of the very small ruling group of the 700 m strong People’s Republic of China.

This woman is Mrs Mao, known as Comrade Chiang Ching. So much attention is now being paid in the Chinese official press, and radio-broad-casts, as well as in speeches of officials to what she says, that it is possible that she may be being groomed as Mao’s successor.

A few months ago the top party theoretician, Chi Penyu, editor of the People’s Daily, lavished praises on Chiang Ching and credited her with organising the campaign against the former Peking Mayor, Pen Chen, at the end of 1965, and thus starting the Cultural Revolution. Principle Reversed

It was she, who, on behalf of Chairman Mao and Lin Piao, head of the People’s Liberation Army, openly advocated that the Red Guards should be given rifles, spears and swords. This completely reversed the principles of “struggle by non-violent means not by force” which has been attributed to Mao himself, and repeatedly emphasised by official organs in Peking and elsewhere. It is significant that such a policy, which implies that the army units are not reliable or powerful enough to safeguard the Maoists, should be made by Mrs Mao. i Until 1963 Chiang Ching had made few public appearances as Mao’s wife and had not engaged in any political activity.. Then she was associated with the reform of the . Peking Opera and Ballet and of philharmonic music. At this time credit for her work was generally given to “a leading member of the party.” Since then it has become obvious that this was already a struggle for power between the party propaganda department (with the Ministry of Culture) and Lin Piao’s Army Cultural Committee. Deep Hatred

Many of the then innocentlooking dramatic criticisms of plays in which the Army was glorified were expressions of deep-rooted hatred between the propaganda department of the party and the men of Lin Piao .... at present Mao’s heir apparent. It was, however, in August last year that Chiang Ching first came into the limelight when she gave her full and active support to the Red Guards—watchdogs of Mao’s thought. She was then named deputy to Mr Chen Po-ta on the nation-wide cultural purge committee and given also a new position as cultural adviser to the Army. As such she was second in command to Marshal Lin Piao. Iu November she launched a new stage oof the Cultural Revolution—the escalation of the purge of her husband’s enemies. Enemy No. 1 was Liu Chao-chi, the Head of State, who is named as the “top party person taking the

capitalist road,” and as such is an opponent of Mao’s revolutionary line.

Part of her violent hatred of Liu is perhaps dictated by jealousy of his wife, Wang Kwang-mei, who, the daughter of a rich Chinese merchant, was born in America (Mei is Chinese for America). Wang Kwang-mei accompanied her husband on diplomatic trips to Cambodia, Indonesia and North Vietnam and basked in

the spotlight of publicity that perhaps Chiang Ching wanted for herself.

The greatest criticism levelled against Wang in the wall posters and banners of Peking is that she wore beautiful clothes and lots of jewels and this may also be a sign of jealousy on the part of Comrade Chiang Ching who, in her role of Chairman’s wife, shuns make-up and wears glasses and the shapeless clothes of a revolutionary.

Chou’s Wife Disliked Teng Yingchao, wife of the Prime Minister, Mr Chou En-lai, has not escaped criticism by Mrs Mao because of her former capitalist background, but Mrs Chou has, up to now, seemed to survive (like her husband) the recurring crises of the regime. Mrs Mao, however, appears to have a rising rival in Yeh Tsun, soldier wife of Marshal Lin Piao. She is like Chiang Ching a member of the influential group in charge of the Cultural Revolution in China’s armed forces. It is curious that the principals engaged in the terrible power struggle which has shattered the myth of Chinese monolithic unity should be four husband-wife teams—Mr and Mrs Mao, Marshal and Mrs Lin Piao, Premier and Mrs Chou En-lai, on the side of the revolutionaries, and President and Mrs Liu Chao-chi as the much attacked, but apparently well-supported, opposition. “Blue Duckweed”

Chiang Ching is about 53 years old. She was born in Shantung. Her real name is Li Chung-yun. As an actress in Shanghai, she was known as Lan p’ing (blue Duckweed). This was in the early 19305, a turbulent period in the cultural life of China. In those years Marxism meant being in the avant garde and it is perhaps because of her over-riding ambition that Chiang Ching joined the Communist party. Until then she had not shown any interest in politics and this decision surprised her friends.

She left Shanghai in 1938 and went to Yenan, where she joined the Party School. It was while she was in Yenan

that she first met Mao. He was then married to a school teacher called Ho who had followed him on the 6000mile Long March. The romance which sprang up between Chiang Ching and Mao Tse-tung was frowned on by high-ranking members of the party, but finally his wife left him and went to Moscow for medical treatment, leaving Chiang in a position to marry Mao. She remained with him during the critical period when he played hide-and-seek with the Kuomintang during the Civil War. She was with him in Wangchiawan where for two months they lived in a cave. There were three compartments in this cave dwelling. Mao, his wife and his two daughters, Maomao and Ling, shared the two inner chambers while Chou En-lai and his wife shared the outer chamber. Critical Years The fact that she was with Mao during the critical years before the foundation of the People’s Republic gives her tremendous prestige. Chiang

was married at the time she met Mao, and her husband is now said to be living in the United States.

Her relationship with Mao gives her now the almost unchallenged right to interpret his wishes and thoughts. However, early this year a Peking wall poster did criticise her for* trying to monopolise Mao’s thoughts. Chiang Ching’s rise as a star of the Mao regime has led to much speculation. Some say that if in order to find people he can trust Mao has had to turn to his wife, the opposition must be strong. Others point out that in Chinese history if a powerful emperor felt his life was coming to an end he did two things ... he strengthened the position of his wife and promoted a general to protect her.

This might be true as a Hong Kong paper has said that, in accordance with Chinese tradition, Mao is now choosing a site for his grave like any elderly Chinese seeing the end of his life in sight.

However, it might well be that Chiang Ching is being promoted to top rank in order that the party can still be able to claim Mao’s thought as the ultimate symbol of legitimacy. It is well known that Mao is concerned with maintaining his power and realising his vision for China after he is gone. It is obvious that there will be, in the person of Chiang Ching; someone who can interpret and apply the doctrine. Recently Mrs Mao has increasingly been using the phrase “we” when referring to decisions taken by Mao. Alliance With Lin? Chiang Ching’s prominence in the last few months could also mean that she has made an alliance with the heir apparent, Marshal Lin Piao, who is concerned with promptly defeating all rivals to his new authority as dauphin. • By this alliance she may be doing two things, conveying an impression that Mao really controls the Cultural Revolution because his wife is so active in it, and looking to her own future under a new master when her 73-year-old husband dies. She remembers, perhaps, that widows of dictators get short shrift and may have in mind Stalin’s treatment of Lenin’s widow.

So much attention Is now being paid to Mao Tsetung’s wife that she may be being groomed as his successor, says Marcelle Poirier, correspondent of the “Yorkshire Post” in Hong Kong.