‘Thousands die in

Press, 31 October 1977, Page 8

‘Thousands die in

purge of Chinese NZPA London A wave of executions is sweeping China in Chairman Hua Kuo-feng’s purge of supporters of Mao Tse-tung’s widow, and the total “must be well into the thousands” this year, the London “Sunday Telegraph” has reported. The dispatch by the newspaper’s Peking correspondent said that scores of people, including women, had been executed in Yunnan province, in the most recent case.

It quoted “senior officials” in Heilung Kiang province that elements once protected by Mao’s widow, Chiang Ching, and the “gang of four” had been put to death.

It said that it was nowadays “almost commonplace” for foreign travellers throughout China to see execution notices in cities and towns. The travellers noted that many names on the lists in Kumning, capital of Yunnan, were accused of counterrevolutionary activities or forming counter-revolution-ary groups, it said. Others were executed for "revenge killings.” The “Telegraph” said that projections from the evidence available to “foreign analysts” left “little doubt that the over-all total of executions throughout China this year must be well into the thousands.”

, The Italian news agency, [A.N.S.A.. reported from I Rome that 10 people had [been executed in Peking for I common crimes.