Lin Biao

Lin Biao or Lin Piao (1908?-1971), Chinese Communist military and political leader, and a participant in the Long March. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) he was named by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to succeed CCP Chairman Mao Zedong, but Lin died after plotting to assassinate Mao.

Lin Biao was born in Hubei province. His father owned a small factory. Lin received a primary and middle school education and then entered Whampoa Military Academy in 1925. At this time Chinese Communist and Kuomintang (KMT) forces were allied to rid China of warlord rule. Whampoa was run by KMT military leader Chiang Kai-shek, but staff members also included influential CCP members, such as Zhou Enlai. Lin had joined the KMT in 1924 and the CCP in 1925. In 1926 Lin participated in the Northern Expedition, Chiang’s military campaign to take back northern China from the warlords who controlled it. When the KMT split with the Communists and Chiang ordered them purged in 1927, Lin escaped with other Communists to Hunan. Later they moved east and established the Jiangxi Soviet, an area of Communist control in Jiangxi province. Lin rose in rank through the Communist military, called the Red Army, to become a corps commander by 1929. In 1934 and 1935 Lin was one of the principal army commanders when the Communists set out on their 9600-km (6000-mi) Long March to escape Chiang’s encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet. From the Communists’ new base in northern China, Lin served as a division commander under Commander-in-Chief Zhu De during the Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 to 1945. During the civil war between the CCP and the KMT that followed, Lin commanded Communist forces in the northeast and won important victories in Manchuria, Tianjin, and Beijing. He gained a reputation as a brilliant strategist and a faithful follower of Mao Zedong.

After the Communists won the civil war and established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, Mao rewarded Lin with political appointments in the PRC government. During much of the 1950s, however, Lin was ill and remained out of the public eye. In 1959 Mao appointed Lin as the minister of defense and leader of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the national military force. Lin began using the PLA to strengthen Mao’s political power. In the early 1960s he compiled the Quotations of Chairman Mao (known as Mao’s “Little Red Book”) and ordered PLA soldiers to memorize its contents. Mao was elevated to cult figure during the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, and official campaigns urged the entire country to “learn from the PLA,” which had become the center of Mao’s following.

At the national party congress of 1969 the CCP named Lin as Mao’s successor. Worried by Lin’s increasing ambition, however, Mao moved in 1970 to undermine Lin’s power. Alarmed by Mao’s moves, Lin plotted to assassinate Mao but failed. According to the official CCP account, Lin and his family attempted to flee to the Soviet Union on September 12, 1971. Their jet crashed in Northeast China, killing all aboard. Outside observers have been unable to verify this account, but it is generally accepted as true. While some remember him as a military hero, Lin is officially condemned by the Chinese government as a traitor.