Persecution and Death of Liu Shaoqi

From "Number Two" to Target of Denunciation

The 11th Plenum of the 8th CCP Central Committee met in Beijing from 1 to 12 August 1966. During the session, on 5 August, Mao Zedong posted his own big-character poster, "Bombard the Headquarters," criticizing unnamed "certain leading comrades" for imposing "bourgeois dictatorship." The plenum reshuffled the central leadership, dropping Liu Shaoqi's rank from second in the Party to eighth, while Lin Biao rose to become the Party's sole vice-chairman. Red Guards and rebel factions quickly turned on Liu, branding him "the Party's number one person in authority taking the capitalist road." In Mao's eyes, this campaign followed directly from Liu's blunt assessment of the Great Leap Forward's failure at the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference and the pragmatic economic adjustments he later pursued with Deng Xiaoping, both seen as challenges to Mao's own line.

Struggle Sessions in Zhongnanhai and the "Seize Liu" Campaign

On 13 January 1967, Liu Shaoqi met Mao Zedong for the last time, at the Great Hall of the People; he was never granted another meeting. On 10 April, Tsinghua University rebels held a struggle rally in front of the main building attended by roughly 300,000 people; Liu's wife, Wang Guangmei, was forced onto the stage wearing the qipao she had worn on a 1963 state visit to Indonesia with Liu and a mock necklace strung from ping-pong balls, and subjected to over two hours of humiliating denunciation, with Peng Zhen, Lu Dingyi, and Bo Yibo denounced alongside her. Beginning 13 July, tens of thousands of mass-organization members pitched camp and set up loudspeakers outside Zhongnanhai's west gate in a monthlong "Seize Liu" campaign, demanding day and night that Liu be dragged out and paraded. On 18 July, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and Chen Boda organized another round of struggle sessions against the couple and a raid on their home. In the early hours of 13 September, Wang Guangmei was arrested on charges of being a "CIA agent" and imprisoned in Qincheng Prison; Liu was confined behind newly built walls within Zhongnanhai.

The Charge of "Renegade, Traitor, and Scab"

The persecution was directed by the Central Special Case Examination Group, established in March 1967; the day-to-day work of the Liu Shaoqi case group fell to Xie Fuzhi, operating under the actual control of Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng. Through torture and coerced confessions, the group fabricated three dossiers, which Zhang Chunqiao rewrote into a final "Report on the Investigation into the Crimes of Renegade, Traitor, and Scab Liu Shaoqi," alleging that Liu had "betrayed" the Party three times, in 1925, 1927, and 1929. The 12th Plenum of the 8th Central Committee met in Beijing from 13 to 31 October 1968; on 31 October it approved the report, built on fabricated evidence, and resolved to expel Liu Shaoqi from the Party "forever" and strip him of all posts. Central Committee member Chen Shaomin was the only person present who refused to raise her hand in approval.

Kaifeng: Secret Transfer and a Lonely Death

After his expulsion, Liu remained imprisoned; suffering from diabetes, lung disease, and other ailments, he was repeatedly denied medical treatment and his health rapidly deteriorated. On 17 October 1969, gravely ill, he was secretly flown to Kaifeng, Henan, and confined in the basement of a heavily guarded former bank building. At 6:45 a.m. on 12 November, Liu died alone, without medicine, doctor, or family present, just 27 days after his transfer. The following night his body was secretly cremated at the Kaifeng crematorium under the false name "Liu Weihuang," an alias from his youth; staff were told the deceased had carried a virulent infectious disease, and soldiers sealed off the site. A man who had served as head of state of the People's Republic of China died anonymous and untreated; his ashes went unclaimed for over a decade.

Rehabilitation in 1980

After Mao's death and the arrest of the "Gang of Four," the 5th Plenum of the 11th Central Committee convened in Beijing from 23 to 29 February 1980. On 29 February it passed the "Resolution on the Rehabilitation of Comrade Liu Shaoqi," rescinding the "renegade, traitor, and scab" charges imposed by the 12th Plenum, restoring his reputation, and posthumously honoring him as "a great Marxist and proletarian revolutionary." On 14 May, Wang Guangmei and others escorted his ashes from Zhengzhou back to Beijing; on 17 May, a memorial service was held at the Great Hall of the People, with Deng Xiaoping delivering the eulogy and flags flown at half-mast nationwide. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were ultimately scattered at sea by his family, escorted by a naval vessel.