Editing Wang Hongwen

{{Short description|Chinese politician and activist (1935–1992)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Wang (surname)|Wang]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Wang Hongwen
| native_name         = {{nobold|王洪文}}
| native_name_lang    = zh
| image               = 
| image name          = 
| caption             = 
| order1              = [[Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]]
| term_start1         = 30 August 1973
| term_end1           = 6 October 1976
| 1blankname1         = Chairman
| 1namedata1          = [[Mao Zedong]]<br />[[Hua Guofeng]]
| birth_date          = December 1935
| birth_place         = [[Changchun|Xinjing]], [[Manchukuo]]<br><small>(now [[Changchun]], [[Jilin]], [[China]])</small>
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1992|8|3|1935|12|1|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Beijing]], China
| party               = [[Chinese Communist Party]] (1953–1976)
| spouse              = Cui Gendi
| children            = 3 (2 sons and 1 daughter)
| awards              = 
| alma_mater          = 
| serviceyears        = 1950-1956
| branch              = {{Army|China}}
| rank                = [[Second Lieutenant]]
| commands held       = 
| module              = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes
|c = {{linktext|lang=zh|王|洪|文}}
  |p = Wáng Hóngwén |mi={{IPAc-cmn|wang|2|-|h|ong|2|wen|2}} |w=Wang<sup>2</sup> Hung<sup>2</sup>-wen<sup>2</sup>
}}
| battles             = [[Korean War]]
}}

'''Wang Hongwen''' (December 1935 – 3 August 1992) was a Chinese labour activist and politician who was the youngest member of the "[[Gang of Four]]". He rose to prominence during the [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–1976), after organizing the [[Shanghai People's Commune]], to become one of the foremost members of national leadership of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP).

At the pinnacle of his power he was the second [[Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Vice Chairman of the CCP]], and ranked third in the Communist Party's [[Orders of precedence in China|hierarchy]]. Following Mao's death in 1976, Wang was deposed in an [[Smashing the Gang of Four|intra-party coup]], arrested and charged with "counterrevolutionary activity", then sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981.

== Early life ==
Wang was born in a village in the outskirts of [[Changchun]], [[Jilin]] province.<ref name="The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution" /> In 1950 he joined the army and, in 1951, he took part in the [[Korean War]] as a messenger in the communication department and by playing the horn.<ref name="Proletarian Power
Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution" />{{rp|45}}
He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1953. After the war, he was sent to [[Shanghai]] to work in Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Textile Mill as a machine operator and in 1960 he moved to the factory security department for militia work, where he later was placed in charge as a security cadre for all militia work on the factory.<ref name="Proletarian Power
Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution" />{{rp|45}}

== Political career ==
On 12 June 1966, he opposed the factory authorities by posting a [[Big-character poster]] where he, and other signatories, accused them of practicing revisionism. Despite at first being admonished for this, he got the blessing of the Cultural Revolution work team dispatched to the factory. This first work team was replaced by a team sent by the Shanghai Provincial Committee which did not support Wang Hongwen's attack.<ref name="Proletarian Power
Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution" />{{rp|45}}

In October he put up a second poster attacking this work team and founded a rebel group named "Warriors Sworn to the Death to Carry Through with the Cultural Revolution to the End." Then, he went with fifteen of his followers to Beijing and in his return won the admiration of other rebels of Shanghai. This catapulted him as the leader of the Shanghai Workers Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters that was founded in November.<ref name="Proletarian Power
Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution" />{{rp|45}}

Later, through this position he met [[Zhang Chunqiao]] and became involved in a [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]] group. He organized the [[Shanghai People's Commune|Shanghai Commune]] in January 1967, and was catapulted to national prominence as a daring rebel leader.<ref name="The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution" />{{rp|pages=46–47}}

=== Rise to power ===
At the [[9th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]], Wang was elected a member of the Central Committee. Following the [[Lin Biao incident]], Wang was put in charge of the investigation into the case in the Shanghai area, reporting directly to Mao. At the 10th National Congress of the CCP in 1973, Wang, at the age of 38, was elevated to second ranking [[Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP vice chairman]], and the third-ranking member of the [[Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo Standing Committee]] (PSC), just behind Chairman [[Mao Zedong]] and Premier [[Zhou Enlai]].<ref name="The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution" />

Wang was one of the youngest members of the PSC in the post-revolution Communist Party, having joined the body aged 37. He was the same age as some PSC members who took office even after the turn of the century, such as [[Luo Gan]] (served on the PSC between 2002 and 2007), who was also born in 1935. All signs pointed to Wang being trained as Mao's successor. However, Wang Hongwen was being sidelined by Mao Zedong in 1974 after Mao criticised Wang for the gang of four. Instead, [[Hua Guofeng]], a more moderate figure, was chosen to succeed Zhou instead. Between 1974 and early 1976, Mao transferred much power to [[Deng Xiaoping]], giving Deng the power to run daily affairs of the party, the State Council and the military, and Wang Hongwen complained about this move.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

=== Downfall and death ===
{{Main|Smashing the Gang of Four}}
Wang was an important player during and after the death of Mao, and served as the masters of ceremonies for his funeral service on national radio on 18 September 1976. After the death of Mao Zedong, Wang Hongwen became the second highest-ranking official in the CPC, only behind Hua Guofeng. On October 6, 1976, Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying pretended to hold a meeting in [[Zhongnanhai]]'s [[Huairen Hall]] to discuss the fifth volume of ''Mao Zedong's Selected Works'', and informed the members of the Gang of Four to come and discuss.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Alexander C. |title=The Cultural Revolution on Trial: Mao and the Gang of Four |date=7 November 2016 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-316-78509-6 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o4YHDgAAQBAJ |access-date=7 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref> When Wang arrived, his personal guards were asked to stay outside the courtyard, and when several agents from the Central Security Bureau restrained him in the corridor, he shouted, "I'm here for the meeting, what are you doing?" while punching and kicking the agents.<ref>{{cite news |title=揭秘四人帮被抓过程:王洪文大吼猛扑叶剑英 |trans-title=Reveal the secrets of the Gang of Four's capture process: Wang Hongwen yelled and pounced on Ye Jianying |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-08-11/012230662353.shtml |accessdate=2023-03-07 |work=[[Sina Corporation|Sina Culture]] |publisher=Haiwai Net |date=2015-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811042838/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-08-11/012230662353.shtml |archive-date=2014-08-11 |url-status=live |language=zh-hans |quote=王洪文有一点挣扎，当行动组的几个卫士在走廊里把他扭住的时候，王洪文一边大声说 “我是来开会的，你们要干什么？”一边拳打脚踢，拼命进行反抗。但是王洪文很快就被行动小组制服了，被扭着双臂押到大厅里。 |trans-quote=Wang Hongwen struggled a little, and when a few guards from the action group restrained him in the corridor, Wang Hongwen shouted "I'm here for a meeting, what are you doing?", with resisting desperately, punching and kicking the guards. But Wang was soon subdued by the action team and escorted to the hall with his arms restrained.}}</ref> Wang came to the hall with his arms restrained, and Hua began to read out the "decision" of the CCP Central Committee to him, but unexpectedly during the reading Wang broke away from the agents and shouted and lunged at Ye Jianying, who was present, but was subdued again before he could reach him.<ref>{{cite news |title="四人帮"被捕：江青很平静 王洪文反抗最激烈 |url=https://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguoxiandaishi/200911/1105_7179_1421142_2.shtml |trans-title=The "Gang of Four" arrested: Jiang Qing is very calm Wang Hongwen resistance is the most fierce |accessdate=2023-03-07 |work=[[Phoenix Television|Phoenix Web]] |date=2009-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923052749/https://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguoxiandaishi/200911/1105_7179_1421142_2.shtml |archive-date=2021-09-23 |url-status=live |language=zh-hans |quote=还未等华国锋念完，王洪文乘机挣脱开卫士的手，大吼一声，如同一头发怒的恶狼一样，张开双臂，向着不远处的叶剑英扑去。叶剑英到底是经过风雨的老帅，显得很镇静，坐在那里一动不动。几名卫士冲了过去，用力将他扑倒，然后死死地摁住，并给他戴上了手铐，连拖带架地将王洪文带出大厅，然后拉进了早已停在外面的汽车里。 |trans-quote=Before Hua Guofeng finished reading, Wang Hongwen took the opportunity to break away from the guard's hand, roared, like a furious wolf, opened his arms and pounced on Ye Jianying, who was not far away. Ye was an old marshal who had gone through many storms and looked very calm, sitting there motionless. Several guards rushed over and pounced on Wang, then held him down and handcuffed him, dragged him out of the hall and pulled him into the car parked outside.}}</ref> According to historian [[Immanuel C.Y. Hsu|Immanuel C.Y. Hsü]], the coup was not completely bloodless – Wang killed two of the agents trying to capture him, and was wounded himself before being subdued.<ref>{{Citation
| last1       = Hsü
| first1      = Immanuel Chung-yueh
| year       = 1990
| title      = China Without Mao: the Search for a New Order
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       = 0-19536-303-5
| page       = 18
}}</ref> He was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981.<ref name="Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing" /> He died of [[liver cancer]] in a [[Beijing]] hospital on 3 August 1992, at the age of 56.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Watts |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Watts |title=Last member of China's Gang of Four dies at 74 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/jan/07/china.jonathanwatts |access-date=25 April 2022 |work=[[the Guardian]] |date=7 January 2006}}</ref><ref name="Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing" />

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing">{{cite news |last1=Kristof|first1=Nicholas |author1-link=Nicholas Kristof|title=Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four' |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 August 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/05/world/wang-hongwen-dies-in-beijing-a-member-of-the-gang-of-four.html}}</ref>
<ref name="The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution">{{cite book|last1=Jian|first1=Guo|last2=Song|first2=Yongyi|last3=Zhou|first3=Yuan|title=The A to Z of the Chinese Cultural Revolution|date=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=9780810868700|pages=308–309}}</ref>
<ref name="Proletarian Power Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution">{{cite book|last1=Perry|first1=Elizabeth|last2=Xun|first2=Li|title=Proletarian Power Shanghai In The Cultural Revolution|date=1997|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=9780429498008}}</ref>
}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.marxists.org/archive/wang-hongwen/index.htm Wang Hongwen Archive at the Marxist Internet Archive.]
{{10th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}
{{Cultural Revolution}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Hongwen}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Changchun]]
[[Category:People of the Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jilin]]
[[Category:Gang of Four]]
[[Category:Members of the 10th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionists]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Chinese politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Chinese prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver cancer]]
[[Category:Chinese Marxists]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Jilin]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Chinese military personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:Chinese people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in Chinese detention]]
[[Category:Inmates of Qincheng Prison]]