Editing Jiang Qing (section)

=== Public image ===
Jiang Qing was never a widely admired figure throughout her life. Her marriage to Mao in the 1930s scandalised many of the more puritanical comrades in Yan'an. During the Cultural Revolution, she did little to win the favour of other Chinese leaders.<ref name=":21" />

Jiang Qing is often viewed as a figure of naked ambition, with many perceiving her as a typical power-hungry wife of an emperor, seeking to secure power for herself through questionable means. Her public image is largely shaped by her self-serving narrative, which portrays her as a central figure in the turbulent and cutthroat environment of Chinese leadership. She is seen as embodying the ruthless, unpredictable, and dangerous nature of life at the top. Her long-standing vendetta against former cultural-political rivals from her acting days in Shanghai has fueled her reputation for vindictiveness. Though she framed her conflicts with these men as ideological battles, it is widely believed that personal grudges and animosities were the true driving forces behind her actions.<ref name="time quote">{{Cite magazine |date=1977-03-21 |title=The Rise and Fall of Mao's Empress |url=https://time.com/archive/6879872/the-rise-and-fall-of-maos-empress/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713091409/https://time.com/archive/6879872/the-rise-and-fall-of-maos-empress/ |archive-date=13 July 2024 |access-date=28 November 2024 |magazine=Time}}</ref>

According to Roxane Witke, Jiang's early life was marked by poverty, hunger, and violence, and later, as a woman in a male-dominated world, she faced numerous challenges. These experiences shaped her defensive and aggressive personality, fostering an opportunism that persisted even when she no longer needed to assert herself.<ref name=":21" /> Jiang's televised trials and her defiance in court have softened hatred towards her among the younger generations, who became sceptical of China's Communist system.{{Sfn|Terrill|1999|p=345}}

==== Official historiography ====
{{Verse translation|还有精生白骨，自比则天武后，铁帚扫而光。|And the [[White-Boned Demon]], self-styled as [[Wu Zetian]], swept away by [[Popular sovereignty|the iron broom]].|lang1=zh|italicsoff=n|attr1=郭沫若《[[Shuidiao Getou|水调歌头]]·粉碎四人帮》(1976)|lang2=en|attr2=''Crackdown on the [[Gang of Four]]'', [[Guo Moruo]] (1976)}}
After Jiang Qing's arrest in 1976, the Chinese government launched a massive propaganda campaign to vilify her and the other members of the so-called Gang of Four. Orchestrated under the authoritarian political culture of Mao's successor Hua Guofeng, this campaign aimed to discredit Jiang and her associates entirely. In the years leading to her trial in 1980, millions of posters and cartoons depicted the Gang of Four as class enemies and spies. Jiang herself became the primary target of ridicule, portrayed as an empress scheming to succeed Mao and as a prostitute, with references to her past as a Shanghai actress used to question her moral integrity. The propaganda also criticised her interest in Western pastimes, such as photography and poker, portraying them as evidence of her lack of communist values. Ultimately, she was branded the "white-boned demon," a gendered caricature symbolising destruction and chaos.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Salino |first=Silvia |date=2021 |title=Jiang Qing, between Fact and Fiction: The Many Lives of a Revolutionary Icon |url=https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/asien/article/view/20423 |journal=ASIEN: The German Journal on Contemporary Asia |language=en |issue=158/159 |pages=86–104 |issn=2701-8431}}</ref>

The 1980 Gang of Four trial solidified Jiang's image as a manipulative and villainous figure. The indictment held the Gang responsible for the violence of the Cultural Revolution, accusing Jiang of using political purges for personal vendettas and fostering large-scale chaos. Widely broadcast both within and outside China, the trial reinforced a clear dichotomy: Jiang as a symbol of the past's chaos, and Deng Xiaoping's administration as the harbinger of order and progress. This narrative was consistent with the CCP's [[Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China|Resolution on History]], which sought to redefine Mao Zedong's legacy. While Mao was criticised for "errors," he was not held directly accountable for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Instead, full blame was shifted to Jiang and the Gang of Four, allowing Mao Zedong Thought to remain ideologically valid under Deng's reforms.<ref name=":9" />

==== Alternative views ====
Biographical literature on Jiang Qing has emerged as a tool to critique and reinterpret official Chinese historiography. These works challenge the one-dimensional vilification of Jiang, contributing to broader historical debates about the Cultural Revolution and its impact on shaping modern China. While factual biographies aim to deliver an accurate portrayal of their subject, fictional works take creative liberties, reimagining the life of a historical figure without strict adherence to facts. By rejecting the traditional authoritative biographical model—which presents a subject's life as a coherent narrative—works such as ''Jiang Qing and Her Husbands'' and ''Becoming Madame Mao'' instead question the validity of totalising narratives about Jiang. Ultimately, the private sphere in these narratives is used not to provide more intimate insights into the subject but as a means to deconstruct and challenge official Chinese historiography.<ref name=":9" />

==== Comparisons ====
The 2013 trial of [[Bo Xilai]] was regarded as the most dramatic courtroom event in China since Jiang Qing's trial in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-08-22 |title=1980年公审江青以来最具戏剧性的审讯　 |url=https://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20130822-1980年公审江青以来最具戏剧性的审讯%E3%80%80 |website=Radio France Internationale}}</ref> Bo's wife, [[Gu Kailai]], was frequently likened to Jiang Qing due to the nature of her crimes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-08-27 |title=再拿薄谷比江青 |url=https://www.dw.com/zh/%E5%86%8D%E6%8B%BF%E8%96%84%E8%B0%B7%E6%AF%94%E6%B1%9F%E9%9D%92/a-16195304 |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]] |language=zh |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309200433/https://www.dw.com/zh/%E5%86%8D%E6%8B%BF%E8%96%84%E8%B0%B7%E6%AF%94%E6%B1%9F%E9%9D%92/a-16195304 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2024, ''[[Yomiuri Shimbun]]'' reported on [[Peng Liyuan]]'s influence over key personnel decisions within the CCP. The report highlighted her backing of [[Dong Jun]]'s appointment as Minister of Defence and [[Li Ganjie]]'s selection as head of the [[Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Organisation Department]]. Dong and Li were both from Shandong, where Peng was born. The report drew parallels between Xi Jinping's leadership in his later years and Mao Zedong's, likening Peng to Jiang Qing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-17 |title=習近平・国家主席の妻、幹部人事に関与で「ポスト習」に影響力か…専門家「毛沢東の晩年と似る」 |url=https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20240617-OYT1T50004/ |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=読売新聞オンライン |language=ja |archive-date=22 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241122011649/https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20240617-OYT1T50004/ |url-status=live }}</ref>