Wang Hongwen

Wang Hongwen (December, 1935 – August 3, 1992), was a Chinese labour activist and politician who spent most of his career in Shanghai. He was an important political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). He was the youngest member of the far-left political clique called the "Gang of Four." During the Cultural Revolution, Wang rose from a member of the working class to become one of the foremost members of national leadership of the Communist Party of China.

At the pinnacle of his power he was the Vice-Chairman of the CCP, and ranked third in the Communist Party's hierarchy. Following Mao's death in 1976, Wang Hongwen was arrested and charged with "counterrevolutionary activity," then sentenced to life imprisonment in 1981.

Biography

Wang was born in a village in the outskirts of Changchun, Jilin Province. In the early 1950s he took part in the Korean War, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1953. After the war, he was sent to Shanghai to work in Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Textile Mill as the head of security guards regiment, where he met Zhang Chunqiao and became involved in a Red Guards group. He organized the Shanghai Commune in January 1967, and was elected to the Ninth Central Committee of the CCP.