Wang Hongwen was once the so-called “Crown Prince of the Communist Party” and was highly appreciated by Mao Zedong, but once his reputation fell apart, he was the only one in Lin Biao and Jiang Qing’s group to be tortured. The interrogators used a variety of torture techniques to force him to give an account: forcibly injecting stimulants to keep him from sleeping; using heavy torture devices that became more and more rigid the more he struggled, making it difficult for him to stand ……. One day when the wind was released, Wang Hongwen did not take a few steps and fell straight to the ground like a door slab, foaming at the mouth …… He died of liver disease, or, in other words, of torture, at the age of 56.
The number one political star Wang Hongwen
In August 1973, the Tenth Congress of the Communist Party of China opened, with the eighty-year-old Mao Zedong presiding over the meeting, the seventy-five-year-old Zhou Enlai giving a political report, and the thirty-eight-year-old Wang Hongwen giving a report on the revision of the Party’s constitution, and becoming second only to Zhou Enlai as vice chairman of the Party’s Central Committee, his successor status was already conclusive.
During the Cultural Revolution, the cultural and artistic industries were criticized for their “three highs and three lows” (famous writers, actors, professors and high pay, high bonuses and high salaries). They all became famous overnight and became nationally known. Wang Hongwen, an ordinary worker in 1966, became the successor of Mao and Zhou seven years later, rocketing up the ranks. Wang Hongwen’s presentation was shown on TV and newspapers, wearing a new grass green uniform with two bright red lapel pins reflecting his young face, showing a magnificent image compared to his “predecessor” Lin Biao, who was cursed as a “traitorous minister” soon after his death. The image of “Gao Daquan” revived the long-lost star consciousness of the common people, who asked in admiration, “Who is this heroic leader?”
Standing out in the “Anting Incident
“Wang Hongwen had been famous on the Shanghai beach for a long time.
When the tide of the Cultural Revolution started, Wang Hongwen, Pan Guoping and other workers raised their flags to rebel. As soon as they came on the scene, they aimed at the Shanghai Municipal Committee and set up the “Shanghai Workers’ Revolutionary Rebellion Headquarters (General Department of Labor)” and demanded recognition from the Municipal Committee, which refused on the grounds that the Central Committee did not allow the establishment of cross-industry organizations. The “General Department of Labor” went to Beijing to sue, and Pan Guoping led 1,000 people to board the train to Beijing, but was blocked in Nanjing; Wang Hongwen led 1,000 people to board the express to Zhengzhou, but was blocked in Anting, and they lay down on the tracks to block the train to expand the situation. Zhang Chunqiao wanted to integrate the Shanghai workers’ rebellion and agreed to the demand of the General Department of Labor, despite the opposition of the municipal committee. At that time, the Red Guard movement was in disarray and had escaped from the track envisioned by Mao Zedong. Mao intended to let workers replace the Red Guards to advance the movement, so he agreed with Zhang Chunqiao’s opinion.
The General Department of Labor was victorious, and the chiefs were rewarded for their work and ranked. Before that, Pan Guoping’s popularity was above Wang Hongwen’s. Wang Hongwen proposed to nominate himself first and then evaluate, so that the most rooted person could be the head. He first declared his family: a hired farmer, grew up in the suburbs of Changchun, grew up herding pigs and cattle, joined the volunteer army at the age of 16 to fight in the war with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, retired from the army and went to the 17th Cotton Factory in Shanghai, where he worked as a security guard and an officer in the security section, posted large-character posters of the Task Force and the Party Committee during the Four Clean-ups, took the lead in revolting after the Cultural Revolution, and was a member of the Communist Party. After the Cultural Revolution, he was the first to rebel and was a member of the Communist Party. He became the commander of the General Industry Department as he wished.
On the political stage in Shanghai
On January 6, 1967, Shanghai held a meeting to criticize Chen Pi-Xian, Cao Di-Qiu and other leaders of the Municipal Committee, and Wang Hong-Wen gave a grand finale speech, announcing the downfall of the old Municipal Committee in Shanghai and his own ascension to the political stage. This was the “January Storm” that shocked the world. Soon after, a new government revolutionary committee was established in Shanghai, and Wang Hongwen became the deputy director.
In July 1967, two rebel groups in Wuhan were engaged in a huge armed struggle, and Mao personally went to mediate. Shanghai was also in the midst of an armed struggle. Wang Hongwen commanded 300,000 workers with spears and sticks to crush the joint rebel command of the Shanghai Diesel Engine Factory, which opposed the Municipal Revolutionary Committee and the General Department of Industry. A stunned Mao watched the documentary of the struggle and was very impressed. Late at night, when Mao was inspecting the Bund in a limousine, he saw a group of workers wearing rattan hats and holding spears, majestically guarding the entrance of the Municipal Revolutionary Committee.
The road to the top
On the National Day in 1968, the Central Government invited workers and representatives of the Workers’ Propaganda Teams to Beijing to observe the ceremony, and Wang Hongwen was the leader of the team in Shanghai. Mao met Wang Hongwen at the Tiananmen Tower and introduced him to Lin Biao, who would never have imagined that this unknown soldier would be his “replacement”.
In 1969, Wang Hongwen attended the 9th National Congress. As a representative of the “rightists”, Wang Hongwen not only collected a small collection of Chen Yi’s reactionary remarks, but was also the first to speak at the meeting to criticize “Comrade Chen Yi’s ugly face for consistently opposing Chairman Mao”. At the meeting, Wang Hongwen became a member of the Central Committee.
After the Lin Biao incident, Wang Hongwen was in charge of the trial of Lin Biao’s dead friends in Shanghai, and he sent the collected materials directly to Mao, which won Mao’s trust. Mao always respected emperors like Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang, and he wanted to choose a person who was “young, less educated, firm and politically experienced” to take over after Lin Biao. He was the most ideal choice. In September of 1972, Mao transferred Wang Hongwen to Beijing to study and let Zhou Enlai pass on his skills to him, and he was allowed to attend all the meetings chaired by Zhou, and he was also allowed to express his opinions to prepare for his succession.
The Cultural Revolution “Liu Poonzi”
Although Mao respected Wang Hongwen’s resume as a “worker, peasant and soldier”, he still had doubts about whether he could take on a big job. “Before the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Mao asked Wang Hongwen to read the biography of Liu Benzi, and he asked someone to interpret it for him. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Red Eyebrow Army revolted and wanted to install Liu Bang’s descendants as emperor. 15-year-old cattle herder Liu Benzi sat on the dragon chair by drawing lots, but due to his youthful ignorance, he was swayed by others and finally lost. In this way, Mao reminded Wang Hongwen that in high positions, he should take Liu Benzi as a warning to increase his knowledge and ability.
Wang Hongwen was grateful to Mao, but his qualifications could not grasp Mao’s deep meaning, and his character was even more difficult to meet Mao’s requirements. He is very active but not quiet, not to mention reading profound Marxist-Leninist works and ancient books, daily sitting and reading documents have no patience. He was the crown prince, but his talents did not grow, but he kept up with food, drink and fun. He likes fishing and hunting; he likes to play with luxury cars, in addition to the state allocation of cars, but also got six luxury cars in Shanghai; he sometimes eats four meals a day, breakfast and midnight snack to drink Maotai, drinking tongue-tied speech. Someone who had been working with Wang Hongwen as a clerk for two months wrote a limerick to paint his portrait: “The Shanghai governor is on a trip to the western suburbs.
The Shanghai governor traveled to the western suburbs, dismounted from his horse and drank the wine to cleanse the dust.
The high guest and good friends are sitting happily, waving fists and dancing goblets for the day.
The rabbit hunting in the deep mountains drove the fast carriage, and the geese shooting in the big river flooded the light boat.
The confused officials do not ask, do not forget the chicken and dog on the car.
Although Mao carefully cultivated Wang Hongwen, between September 1973 and May 1974, he accompanied Mao and Zhou to foreign guests sixteen times, but Wang’s performance made Mao understand that he was not good enough to make, and within a year he replaced him with Deng Xiaoping.
The end is not as good as Liu Benzi
After three years as emperor, Liu Benzi surrendered to Emperor Liu Xiu of the Han Dynasty and was given official land and taxes to support him for life.
Wang Hongwen, the “Liu Poonzi” of the Cultural Revolution, was not so lucky. When he was arrested, he was the vice chairman of the Communist Party of China and the least guilty of the Gang of Four, but he did not enjoy the privilege of “not being a doctor of torture” and was the only main culprit in Lin Biao and Jiang Qing’s group to be tortured. The first thing you need to do is to get the best out of your life.
The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are getting into. The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you’re doing. The first thing you need to do is to take over the work of the Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, and you can’t hold down the fort. Wang Hongwen said, “It’s too late to think about this.” It is indeed too late. Compared to the “founding” of the world’s generals, he will always be a machine oiler, from the rebellion to become vice chairman is just a dream.
One day when the wind was released, Wang Hongwen did not take a few steps and fell straight to the ground like a door slab, foaming at the mouth …… He died of liver disease, it can also be said that he died of torture, died at the age of fifty-six.
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