Ji Dengkui | |
|---|---|
| 纪登奎 | |
 Dengkui in 1969 | |
| Vice Premier of China | |
| In office 1975–1978 | |
| Premier | Zhou Enlai Hua Guofeng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 March 1923 Wuxiang County,Shanxi, China |
| Died | 13 July 1988 (aged 65) |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Ji Dengkui | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 紀登奎 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 纪登奎 | ||||||||
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Ji Dengkui (Chinese:纪登奎; 17 March 1923 – 13 July 1988) was a Chinese political figure during theCultural Revolution. He was a member of the 10th and 11th Politburos of the Communist Party and was a protégé ofMao Zedong in Mao's later years. He served in a number of important government and military posts, including member of theCentral Military Commission,Political Commissar of theBeijing Military Region, and Vice Premier of theState Council. After Mao's death in 1976, he supported Mao's designated successor,Hua Guofeng, in purging theGang of Four. Two years later,Deng Xiaoping ousted Hua from his leadership position, and Ji, labelled the "Little Gang of Four" together with other prominent Hua supporters, was forced out of politics.
Ji Dengkui was born inWuxiang County,Shanxi province on 17 March 1923. After the eruption of theSecond Sino-Japanese War in 1937, he joined the anti-Japanese resistance before turning 15, and theChinese Communist Party the following year.[1][2] During the Anti-Japanese War and the subsequentChinese Civil War, he served in various party positions including Party Secretary ofLushan County inHenan province. Although he participated in some battles during the wars, he frankly admitted that he had little military experience, even afterMao Zedong appointed him to top military posts of China in the 1970s.[1]
After Mao's Communist Party won the Civil War and established thePeople's Republic of China in 1949, Ji continued to serve as a local party official in Henan.[2] In 1951, Ji met Mao for the first time during Mao's tour of Henan. Ji, then Deputy Party Secretary ofXuchang prefecture, reportedly gained the favour of Mao by giving straightforward answers to Mao's questions, and frankly admitted that he had killed innocent people by mistake during the Communist Revolution. Mao praised his work and Ji was soon promoted to Party Secretary of Xuchang, at the age of only 28.[3]
Ji worked at Luoyang Mining Equipment Factory, which was built in the mid-1950s as one of the key industrial projects which the USSR helped build during China'sFirst Five-Year Plan.[4]
He served as the Party Secretary ofLuoyang prefecture during theGreat Leap Forward (1958 to 1961), and avoided implementing the catastrophic policies of other local leaders which caused extensivefamine in Henan, especially inXinyang prefecture. Few people died of hunger in Luoyang, while more than a million people starved to death in the infamous "Xinyang Incident".[3][5]
Mao Zedong visited Henan more than ten times before the start of theCultural Revolution, and summoned Ji Dengkui for reporting whenever he was in the province. Although Mao was 30 years older than Ji, he publicly referred to Ji as his "old friend". Ji rose quickly within the party ranks, first to the provincial party committee as an alternate party secretary, and later to the national government.[3]
When theCultural Revolution erupted in 1966, Ji was a deputy director of the Henan Cultural Revolution Committee, effectively the deputy head of the provincial government. When theJanuary Storm swept through China in January 1967, China fell into anarchy and the radicalRebel Faction (Zaofanpai 造反派) of theRed Guards took over many local governments, including that of Henan. Ji was persecuted and imprisoned by the Rebels for six months, and endured numerousstruggle sessions.[1] In July 1967, however, Ji was released and restored as the deputy director of the Henan Revolutionary Committee, and thede facto top leader in Henan. His release was announced after a visit to Henan from representatives of the central government, and was believed to be partly due to his relationship with Mao.[1]
In 1969, Ji was designated by Mao to speak as a representative of the "revolutionary cadres" at the9th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, at which he was elected a member of theCentral Committee. Soon afterward he was elected an alternate member of thePolitburo, catapulting him into the ranks of national leaders.[1]
As one of Mao's loyal supporters, Ji became a member of theCentral Military Commission in September 1970 as part of Mao's strategy to "mix the sand" by inserting officials loyal to him into the ranks ofLin Biao's military staff to keep a check on Lin. He was also appointedPolitical Commissar of the crucialBeijing Military Region.[1]
After Lin Biao's death in a 1971 plane crash, Ji was elected a full member of the10th Politburo in 1973, and became Vice-Premier in January 1975.[1][2]
After Mao died in 1976, Ji supported Mao's designated successorHua Guofeng, and helped Hua purge theGang of Four, including Mao's widowJiang Qing, from the CCP leadership.[2] He was instrumental in taking over the influential newspaperGuangming Daily, which had been controlled by the Gang of Four.[2] In 1977, he was re-elected a full member of the11th Politburo.[1]
Ji was a member of the "Whatever Faction" that allied with Hua Guofeng, who was eventually to be outmaneuvered byDeng Xiaoping to resign from the highest command of party leadership.[2]: 62–63 Leading up to the watershed events in 1978, Ji had served as the Executive Vice Premier of the Council in charge of agriculture. Although initially playing a key role in setting the agenda and drafting documents on agricultural development, Ji quickly found himself subject to criticisms from all sides for "mistakes" he made during the Cultural Revolution at theThird Plenum of the Eleventh Party Congress in 1978.[1] Taken over fromHua Guofeng byChen Yun andHu Yaobang, the subsequent discussion sessions turned to the historical cases ofLiu Shaoqi,Peng Dehuai,Tao Zhu, andBo Yibo.[6] According toYu Guangyuan, who was in the same Northwest Group at the Conference, Ji remained noticeably passive throughout these sessions. “Among the 35 members in northwest group," recounts Yu, "34 of them spoke actively." Ji was also named, after his fellow Vice PremierWang Dongxing was criticized byHu Yaobang andYu Guangyuan's reformist camp.[7] Eventually, Ji Dengkui,Wang Dongxing,Wu De, andChen Xilian, the four high-ranking allies of Hua, were labelled the "Little Gang of Four" and dismissed from the most important of their political posts.[2] Although the decision was made in 1978, it was not made public until February 1980, at the Fifth Plenum of theParty Congress.[1][2]
Ji was reassigned a researcher at the Research Center of Rural Development in China in 1982.[2][3] He died of an illness on 13 July 1988, at the age of 65.[3]
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