Inner Mongolia incident

The Inner Mongolia incident, or the Inner Mongolia People's Revolutionary Party purge incident, (Chinese: 内人党事件; pinyin: Nèi rén dǎng shìjiàn) was a massive political purge which occurred during the Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia.[1][2] The purge was supported by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and was led by Teng Haiqing, a lieutenant general (zhong jiang) of the People's Liberation Army.[2][3] It took place from 1967 to 1969 during which over a million people were categorized as members of the already-dissolved Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), while lynching and direct massacre resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, most of whom were Mongols.[1][2][4][5][6][7][8]

This article is about a purge during the Cultural Revolution. For the incident in 2011, see 2011 Inner Mongolia unrest.

Inner Mongolia Incident
Part of Cultural Revolution in China
The establishment of the revolutionary committee in Inner Mongolia (1967)
Native name内人党事件
LocationInner Mongolia, China
Date1967
1967 – 1969
TargetEthnic Mongols, alleged former members of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (PRP), "separatists" and Enemies of the Chinese Communist Party
Deaths16,222-100,000
Injured81,000
Victims1,000,000+ (accused or persecuted)
PerpetratorsChinese Communist Party, People's Liberation Army, Teng Haiqing
MotiveCultural Revolution instigated by Mao Zedong, elimination of political enemies, persecution of ethnic minorities, prevention of political independence
Inner Mongolia incident
Simplified Chinese内人党事件
Traditional Chinese內人黨事件
Inner Mongolia People's Revolution Party purge incident
Simplified Chinese内蒙古人民革命党肃清事件
Traditional Chinese內蒙古人民革命黨肅清事件

According to the official complaint from the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1980 after the Cultural Revolution, during the purge, 346,000 people were arrested, 16,222 people were persecuted to death or killed directly, and over 81,000 were permanently injured and disabled.[1][4][5][8][9][10] Other estimates have put a death toll between 20,000 and 100,000, while hundreds of thousands were arrested and persecuted, and over a million people were affected.[2][4][5][7][8][9][11][12]

After the Cultural Revolution, the purge was regarded as a "mistake" and its victims were rehabilitated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period, but the commander of the purge, Teng Haiqing, received no trial or legal punishment at all because the Central Committee of CCP thought he had made achievements during the wars in the past.[1][2][5][13][14] On the other hand, some of Teng's affiliates received various terms of imprisonment, with a main Mongol affiliate sentenced to 15 years in prison.[8]

Historical background
Ulanhu, the founding Chairman of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

On 16 May 1966, the Cultural Revolution was officially launched in mainland China by Mao Zedong with the help of Cultural Revolution Group.[15] From 7 June to 20 July 1966, Ulanhu, then Chairman of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was accused of being an "anti-Party activist" and was persecuted.[2] At the time, Ulanhu was also criticized by top leaders such as Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, whom themselves were soon to be persecuted as well in the Cultural Revolution.[2][16] On 16 August 1966, Ulanhu was dismissed from his official positions and was placed under house arrest in Beijing.[2] Some of his close affiliates such as Ji Yatai were also persecuted.[1]

In May 1967, Teng Haiqing was appointed the top leader of the Inner Mongolia Military Region.[2] On 27 July 1967, the northern branch of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced that Ulanhu had conducted five crimes, including anti-Maoism, anti-socialism, separatism, and so on.[1][17] Supported by Marshal Lin Biao, Jiang Qing (Mao's wife) and Kang Sheng (head of the internal intelligence agency of the Central Social Affairs Department), Teng began to initiate a massive purge which was intended to "dig out" the "poison of Ulanhu" in the Inner Mongolia region.[2][8]

During the purge, the already-dissolved Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (PRP) was claimed to have re-established itself and have grown into power since 1960.[2] And, Ulanhu was accused of being the leader of this Party.[1] At least hundreds of thousands of people in Inner Mongolia were "categorized" as members of the PRP, whom were regarded as separatists and were subsequently persecuted.[2][4][7][8] During the purge, the Mongolian language was banned from publications and Mongols were accused of being “the sons and heirs of Genghis Khan”.[2]

Lynching and massacre
Lieutenant general Teng Haiqing was the commander of the Inner Mongolia purge.

Methods of torturing and killing

The methods used in lynching and killing during the purge included branding with hot irons, feeding furnace wastes, removing livers, hanging, cutting tongues and noses, piercing nails, piercing vaginas, pouring hot saline water into wounds, and more.[2][8][9]

Death toll

According to the official complaint from the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1980 after the Cultural Revolution, during the purge, 346,000 people were arrested (75 percent were Mongols), over 16,000 were persecuted to death, and over 81,000 were permanently injured and disabled.[4][5][8][9][10]

Other estimates include:

  • According to scholar Ba He (巴赫): close to 100 thousand people were killed, 700–800 thousand were arrested and persecuted, and over a million were affected.[7]
  • According to Chinese historian Song Yongyi (宋永毅) of the California State University, Los Angeles: an unofficial source points out that the death toll was at least 40,000; 140,000 reached the point of permanent deformity, and nearly 700,000 were persecuted.[4]
  • According to historian Lhamjab A. Borjigin (拉幕札部), who was arrested and prosecuted by the Chinese government in 2019 for his research: at least 27,900 were killed and 346,000 were imprisoned and tortured.[9][11][18]

Notable figures killed

Rehabilitation
See also: Boluan Fanzheng

After the Cultural Revolution, China's new paramount leader Deng Xiaoping came to power in December 1978 and, together with Hu Yaobang and others, launched a large-scale campaign to rehabilitate victims in the so-called "unjust, false, and incorrect cases (冤假错案)" made during the Cultural Revolution.[19]

The Inner Mongolia incident was regarded as a "mistake" and its victims were rehabilitated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1979 during the "Boluan Fanzheng" period, blaming the entire purge on “the Gang of Four and the Lin Biao Clique”.[2][4] Trials for the Gang of Four began in 1980.[19][20]

In the 1980s, there were calls for trial of Teng Haiqing, the commander of the purge in Inner Mongolia, but the Central Committee of CCP thought Teng had made achievement during the past wars and therefore he would not be further punished for leading the purge.[2][8][14] On the other hand, some of Teng's affiliates received various terms of imprisonment, with a main Mongol affiliate, Wulan Bagan (乌兰巴干), sentenced to 15 years in prison.[8]

See also

References
  1. Hao, Weimin. "十年浩劫中的内蒙古" [Inner Mongolia during the ten-year havoc]. Xinhuanet (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  2. Brown, Kerry (1 July 2007). "The Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia 1967–1969: The Purge of the "Heirs of Genghis Khan"". Asian Affairs. 38 (2): 173–187. doi:10.1080/03068370701349128. ISSN 0306-8374. S2CID 153348414.
  3. Hyer, Paul; Heaton, William (1968). "The Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia". The China Quarterly. 36 (36): 114–128. doi:10.1017/S0305741000005634. ISSN 0305-7410. JSTOR 652198. S2CID 153537245.
  4. Song, Yongyi (25 August 2011). "Chronology of Mass Killings during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976)". Sciences Po. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  5. Bai, Yintai. "内人党"冤案前后". Chinese University of Hong Kong (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. Phillips, Tom (11 May 2016). "The Cultural Revolution: all you need to know about China's political convulsion". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  7. Ba, He (25 January 2003). "文革[内人党]事件窥探". Beijing Spring (北京之春). Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  8. Ba, Yantai. 挖肃灾难实录 (PDF) (in Chinese). Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center.
  9. Yang, Jishen (4 July 2017). 天地翻覆: 中国文化大革命历史 (in Chinese). 天地图书.
  10. "Inner Mongolia in 'War-Like State'". Radio Free Asia. 5 June 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. "China Holds Ethnic Mongolian Historian Who Wrote 'Genocide' Book". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. Unger, Jonathan (18 January 2019). "Turmoil at the Grassroots in China's Cultural Revolution: A Half-Century Perspective". Made in China Journal. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. Qi, Zhi (26 November 2019). 中华学人论文集——文化大革命50年（1–4）: 文献与综述（一） (in Chinese). Remembering Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-951135-05-8.
  14. 《乌兰巴干案卷》内蒙政法委会议记录, May 1987 (in Chinese)
  15. Ramzy, Austin (14 May 2016). "China's Cultural Revolution, Explained". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  16. 《刘少奇、邓小平与乌兰夫的谈话记录》——《文革资料》内蒙古党委机关红旗联合总部1967年8月编印
  17. 中共中央批转乌兰夫错误问题的报告——（中发<67>31号1967年1月27日）
  18. He, Ping (16 September 2019). "Ethnic Mongolian Author Sentenced, Placed Under 'Community Correction' Order". Radio Free Asia. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  19. Cook, Alexander C., ed. (2016), "Indictment", The Cultural Revolution on Trial: Mao and the Gang of Four, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 35–77, doi:10.1017/9780511980411.003, ISBN 978-0-521-13529-0, retrieved 21 September 2022
  20. Zheng, Haiping (2010). "Gang of Four Trial". University of Missouri–Kansas City. Retrieved 5 December 2019.

Further reading
  • Yang Haiying. The Truth about the Mongolian Genocide during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Asian Studies, Special Issue 6, Shizuoka University. March 2017.
  • Kerry Brown. The Purge of the Inner Mongolian People's Party in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1967–69. Global Oriental Ltd., May 2004.
  • Paul Hyer and William Heaton. The Cultural Revolution in Inner Mongolia. The China Quarterly, No. 36 (Oct. – Dec. 1968), pp. 114–128
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