Jiang Qing

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Mao and Jiang in 1946

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Jiang became the nation's first lady. She worked as Director of Film in the Central Propaganda Department, and as a member of the Ministry of Culture steering committee for the film industry. An uproar in 1950 led to the investigation of The Life of Wu Xun, a film about a 19th-century beggar who raised money to educate the poor. Jiang supported criticism of the film for celebrating counter-revolutionary ideas.

Following the Great Leap Forward (1958–62), Mao was highly criticized within the CPC, and turned to Jiang, among others, to support him and persecute his enemies. After Mao wrote a pamphlet questioning the persistence of "feudal and bourgeois" traditional opera, Jiang took this as a license to systematically purge Chinese media and literature of everything but political propaganda. The result ended up being a near-total suppression of all creative works in China aside from rigidly-prescribed "revolutionary" material.

Jiang during the Cultural Revolution

Backed by her husband, she was appointed deputy director of the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG) in 1966 and emerged as a serious political figure in the summer of that year. At the 9th Party Congress in April 1969, she was elevated to the Politburo. By then, she had established a close political working relationship with the other members of what later became known as the Gang of Four: Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen. She was one of the most powerful and controversial figures in China during Mao's last years.

During this period, Mao galvanized students and young workers as his paramilitary organization the Red Guards to attack what he termed as revisionists in the party. Mao told them the revolution was in danger and that they must do all they could to stop the emergence of a privileged class in China. He argued this is what had happened in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev.

With time, Jiang began playing an increasingly active political role in the movement. She took part in most important Party and government activities. She was supported by a radical coterie, dubbed, by Mao himself, the Gang of Four. Although a prominent member of the Central Cultural Revolution Group and a major player in Chinese politics from 1966 to 1976, she essentially remained on the sidelines.[2]

The initial storm of the Cultural Revolution came to an end when President Liu Shaoqi was forced from all his posts on 13 October 1968. Lin Biao now became Mao's designated successor. Chairman Mao now gave his support to the Gang of Four. These four radicals occupied powerful positions in the Politburo after the Tenth Party Congress of 1973.

Jiang first collaborated with then second-in-charge Lin Biao, but after Lin Biao's death in 1971, she turned against him publicly in the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius Campaign. By the mid-1970s, Jiang also spearheaded the campaign against Deng Xiaoping (afterwards saying that this was inspired by Mao). The Chinese public became intensely discontented at this time and chose to blame Jiang, a more accessible and easier target than Chairman Mao.[14] By 1973, although unreported due to it being a personal matter, Mao and his wife Jiang had separated:

It was reported that Mao Tsetung and Chiang Ching were separated in 1973. Most people, however, did not know this. Hence Chiang Ching was still able to use her position as Mao's wife to deceive people. Because of her relations to Mao, it was particularly difficult for the Party to deal with her.[15]

Jiang's hobbies included photography, playing cards, and holding screenings of classic Hollywood films, especially those featuring Greta Garbo, one of her favorite actresses, even as they were banned for the average Chinese citizen as a symbol of bourgeois decadence.[16] When touring a troupe of young girls excelling in marksmanship, she discovered Joan Chen, then 14 years old, launching Joan's career as a Chinese and then international actress.[17]

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, theater reform was high on the agenda for the new Communist government as the Theater Reform Bureau (Xi Gai Ju) was established on Oct 2nd. However, the bureau was disbanded a year after due to widespread protests by performing artists, who referred to the bureau as “Theater Slaughter Bureau” (Xi Zai Ju). In 1950, with the creation of the first national theater academy, premier Zhou Enlai announced a new theater reform policy that aimed to politically indoctrinate the performing artists and nationalize opera companies.[18]

In 1951, Jiang Qing was given a minor position of Film Bureau Chief. After her appointment, Jiang engaged in three attempts in establishing the standard for socialist art. Jiang's first attempt was her advice to ban the 1950 Hong Kong movie The Inside Story of the Qing Dynasty Court (Qinggong Mishi), of which Jiang believed to be unpatriotic. Her opinion was not taken seriously by the communist leadership due to the minor political influence of her office and the movie was distributed in PRC's major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.[19] Despite the difficulties to have her opinion recognized by the communist leadership, Jiang was able to rely on Mao's influence to support her position within the party. Four years after the airing of The Inside Story of the Qing Dynasty Court, Mao pointed out in a letter to the top leaders that “we haven’t criticized Inside Story yet,”, echoing Jiang's criticisms. Later in 1951,  Jiang critiqued and objected to the distribution of the movie The Story of Wu Xun (Wu Xun Zhuan) for glorifying the wealthy landed class while dismissing the peasantry. Again, Jiang's opinion was dismissed by the communist leadership due to the lack of political influence from her office. However, Mao intervened for the second time as he penned the article “We Need to Pay Attention to the Discussion of the Movie The Story of Wu Xun” and published it on May 20, 1951, in The People’s Daily. Mao criticized the movie for portraying and endorsing Wu Xun as anti-revolutionary. Nonetheless, Jiang's third attempt involved the role of literary criticism in the development of socialist art. She asked the editor of The People’s Daily to republish the new literary interpretation of the classic novel Dream of Red Mansions (Hong Lou Meng) by two young scholars at Shandong University. The editor refused Jiang's request on the grounds that the party newspaper was not a forum for free debate. Again, Mao spoke up on Jiang's behalf.[19]

Jiang would spend 1955–1962 in Moscow for medical treatments. However, during this period, as a foreign dignitary, Jiang was able to access a wide variety of movies that were banned in Soviet Russia, including many Hollywood productions. With such access, Jiang was able to stay informed of the western art trends, which would go on to shape her transformation of the Beijing Opera House.[18]

After Jiang's return to China in 1962, she frequently attended local opera performances. In 1963, Jiang asked A Jia, the director of the National Beijing Opera Company, to assist her in transforming the works of Beijing Opera with the modern revolutionary socialist theme. She would later ask the Beijing Municipal Opera Company to develop the opera Among the Reeds (Shajiabang) featuring the struggle between the Nationalists and Communists during the Second Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945). She was also behind the development of the opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (Zhiqu Weihu Shan), which she tasked the Shanghai Beijing Opera Company for the production. In July 1964, Jiang Qing delivered the speech “On The Revolution of Beijing Opera” at the “Forum of Theatrical Workers Participating in the Festival of Peking Opera on Contemporary Themes.” In her speech, Jiang expressed her discontent with how the “socialist country led by the Communist Party, the dominant position on the stage is not occupied by the workers, peasants, and soldiers, who are the real creators of history and the true masters of our country.” Jiang noted that the majority of the opera stage in China were still occupied by scholars, royalties, ministers, and beauties, which she collectively categorized as “ancient Chinese and foreign figures.” Jiang also criticized Beijing Opera for its use of “artistic exaggeration” that “has always depicted ancient times and people belonging to those times.”[20] Jiang considered these ancient characters as negative. According to Jiang, the continuous portrayal of these negative characters made it hard to produce any positive figures, which are “characters of advanced revolutionary heroes.” She used the example of the opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy to show that the change in the protagonist's portrayal was related to how “the roles of the People's Liberation Army men Yang Tzu-jung and Shao Chien-po have been made more prominent.” Jiang also argued that the portrayal of positive characters was important as “good people are always the great majority” and that the productions should “educate and inspire the people and lead them forward”, suggesting that many of the existing works must be revised to portray the masses.[20]

During the 1964 “Modern Beijing Opera Trial Performance Convention”, Jiang's new productions, including the Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, were highly praised by the Communist leadership. These works helped her to establish her reputation in China's artistic realm and her plans to transform the Beijing Opera House. In June 1965, Jiang met and formed a working relationship with Yu Huiyong, the future Minister of Culture of the PRC. Jiang considered their ideas on the reformation of Beijing Opera to be “in total harmony.” Jiang's considerable political power allowed Yu to push the yangbanxi (model drama) projects to fruition. She first arranged for Yu to join the composition team of her opera On the Docks, which was the first Beijing Opera to portray the themes from contemporary society and the lives of Shanghai's working class after liberation. Jiang also tasked Yu to revise the musical scores of the yangbanxi for the modern Chinese masses, and both of them believed that the revolutionary artwork must represent the reality of modern life.[19]

During the Cultural Revolution, The Red Guards condemned Yu to be a “bad element” for propagating feudalism through his utilization of traditional Chinese music in operas. Yu was also tagged as “a democrat hiding under the banner of the Communist Party” due to his frequent absences in party meetings. In 1966, Yu was subsequently sent to a Cow Shed, a small room where the “bad elements” were confined. In October 1966, Yu was released after Jiang requested a meeting with Yu to stage the production of two operas in Beijing. Jiang seated Yu next to her, as a display of Yu's importance in the making of yangbanxi, during the showing of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.[19]

During the production of yangbanxi, Jiang had shown keen intuition, due to her experience as an actress, in showing the shape yangbanxi should take. However, Jiang's directions on opera reforms were often vague. Yu, acting as the pawn of Jiang, was able to manifest Jiang's orders into technical details that can be followed by the performers. Despite Yu's growing influence, he was never able to defy Jiang's orders, as he could only influence her thinking.[18]

Jiang identified the weakness of Beijing opera as the lack of well organized music, which according to Jiang, “builds the image of the characters.” This conception was influenced by Yu's writing on the functional conception of music. Yu focused on reforming the language of music. This was due to Yu's belief that for yangbanxi to become successful in educating the masses on the structure and benefits of the new socialist state, the language of the music must be understandable to the common person. He first recommended that the lyrics be written in Mandarin, which was in line with the Chinese government policy that mandated the use of Mandarin as the language of instruction in schools nationwide. Yu also advocated that “the melody should be composed in such a way that it also shadowed the syllabic tonal patterns”, which “should sound natural to the ear as well as being easily understandable to the listener.”[19]

Jiang was known to be blunt in directing the yangbanxi, but Yu was able to serve as the mediator between Jiang and the performers. Since Jiang could not communicate her vision clearly, performers often take her criticisms as personal insults. Du Mingxin, one of Jiang's composers, recalled Jiang dismissed his music in the ballet The Red Detachment of Women (Hong Se Niang Zi Jun) as “erotic ballad that used to be performed in the 1930s Shanghai nightclubs”. Du was then criticized for trying to destroy the yangbanxi project by hiding bourgeois music in a revolutionary ballet. Du felt humiliated by this remark. It was until Yu asked the group to submit another composition that Du regained his motivation and composed the now famous Wanquan Heshui (On Wanquan River). According to Du, this incident revealed Yu's artistic integrity, personal courage, and the ability to gain Jiang's acknowledgement on his decisions.[19]

Jiang showed few signs of sorrow during the days following Mao's death. It was uncertain who controlled the Communist Party's central organs during this transition period. Hua Guofeng, as Mao's designated successor, held the titular power as the acting Chairman of the Communist Party and as Premier. However, Hua was not very influential. Some sources indicate that Mao mentioned Jiang Qing before his death in a note to Hua Guofeng, telling him to "go and consult her" if he runs into problems (Chinese: 有事找江青).[23]

Jiang believed that upholding the status quo, where she was one of the highest-ranked members of the central authorities, would mean that she would effectively hold on to power. In addition, she believed that her status as Mao's widow would make it difficult for her to be removed. She continued to invoke Mao's name in her major decisions, and acted as first-in-charge.

Her political ambitions became notorious within the Central Committee. Ye Jianying, a renowned general, met in private with Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing, commander of a secret service-like organization called the 8341 Corps (present-day Central Guard Corps). They determined that Jiang and her associates must be removed by force in order to restore stability.

On the morning of 6 October 1976, Jiang came to Mao's former residence in Zhongnanhai, gathered her close aides and Mao's former personal aides in a "Study Mao's Work" session. According to Du Xiuxian, her photographer, Jiang remarked that she knew people within the Central Committee were plotting against her.

After the session, Jiang took several aides to Jingshan Park to pick apples. In the evening, Jiang, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen, and Yao Wenyuan were brutally beaten, arrested and kept in the lower level of Zhongnanhai where they were starved, tortured and interrogated. According to Zhang Yaoci, who carried out the arrest, Jiang did not say much when she was arrested. It was reported that one of her servants spat at her as she was being taken away under a flurry of blows by onlookers and police.[24] In a bloodless coup d'état, the Gang of Four were charged with attempts to seize power by organizing militant coups in Shanghai and Beijing, subverting the government, counter-revolutionary activity, and treason.

After her arrest, Jiang was sent to the Qincheng Prison and detained for five years where she was further beaten, starved, tortured and interrogated. In both official and civilian accounts of the period, the fall of the Gang was met with celebrations all over China.

Jiang at her trial in 1980

In 1980, the trials of the Gang of Four began. The trials were televised nationwide. By showing the way the Gang of Four was tried, Deng Xiaoping wanted the people to realize that a new era had begun.

Portions of the 20,000-word indictment were printed in China's press before the trial started; they accused the defendants of a host of heinous crimes that took place during the Cultural Revolution. The charges specify that 727,420 Chinese were "persecuted" during that period, and that 34,274 died, though the often vague indictment did not specify exactly how. Among the chief victims: one-time President Liu Shaoqi's widow Wang Guangmei, herself imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution for 12 years, attended the trial as an observer.

The indictment described two plots by the "Jiang Qing-Lin Biao Counter-revolutionary Clique" to seize power. Jiang was not accused of conspiring with Lin Biao, or with other members of the Gang of Four who allegedly planned an armed rebellion to "usurp power" in 1976, when Mao was close to death. Instead, the charges against her focused on her systematic persecution of creative artists during the Cultural Revolution. Amongst other things, she was accused of hiring 40 people in Shanghai to disguise themselves as Red Guards and ransack the homes of writers and performers. The apparent purpose was said to find and destroy letters, photos and other potentially damaging materials on Jiang's early career in Shanghai, which she wanted to keep secret.[25]

Despite the seriousness of the accusations against her, Jiang appeared unrepentant. She did not confess her guilt, something that the Chinese press emphasized to show her bad attitude. There had been reports that she planned to defend herself by cloaking herself in Mao's mantle, saying that she did only what he approved. As the trial got under way, Jiang dismissed her assigned lawyers, deciding instead to represent herself. During her public trials at the "Special Court", Jiang was the only member of the Gang of Four who argued on her own behalf. The defense's argument was that she obeyed the orders of Mao at all times. Jiang maintained that all she had done was to defend Chairman Mao. It was at this trial that Jiang made the famous quote: "I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite." (Chinese: 我是主席的一条狗，主席要我咬谁就咬谁。)[26]

Jiang was sentenced to death, with a reprieve of two years, in 1981. By 1983, her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. During this time, she made several requests to visit Mao Zedong's embalmed body in Beijing, but they were turned down. When the Tiananmen Square protests occurred, Jiang believed that the student activists were liberals rather than Maoists, but she blamed them on Deng Xiaoping, writing that "He let in all those Western ideas!"

While in prison, Jiang was diagnosed with throat cancer, but she refused an operation. She was eventually released, on medical grounds, in 1991.

At the hospital, Jiang used the name Lǐ Rùnqīng (李润青). She died by suicide on 14 May 1991, at the age of 77, by hanging herself in a bathroom of her hospital. She penned a suicide note reading, "Today the revolution has been stolen by the revisionist clique of Deng, Peng Zhen, and Yang Shangkun. Chairman Mao exterminated Liu Shaoqi, but not Deng, and the result of this omission is that unending evils have been unleashed on the Chinese people and nation. Chairman, your student and fighter is coming to see you!"[6] Her suicide occurred two days before the 25th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution.

She wished for her remains to be buried in her home province of Shandong, but in consideration of possible future vandalism to her tomb, the state decided to have her remains moved to a safer common cemetery in Beijing.[27] Jiang is buried in Futian Cemetery in the western hills of Beijing. Her grave is marked by a tall white stone inscribed with her school name, not the name by which she was famously known, which reads: "Tomb of Late Mother, Li Yunhe, 1914–1991" (先母李云鹤之墓，一九一四年至一九九一年).[27]