Lin Biao (1907-1971)

Lin Biao was a Marshal and military leader of the PRC. His original name was Li Zuoda, but people also called him as Yangchun, but he introduced himself as Lin Yurong. Later he had also other names such as Yurong, Youyong and Li Jin. He was born on December 5, 1907 in Huanggang, Hubei Province. He joined the CPC in 1925. In the Jinggang Mountains revolutionary period, he successively served as the deputy platoon leader, battalion commander, regiment commander, and the army commander of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. During the Anti-Japanese War period, Lin Biao served as the division chief of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. During the War of Liberation (June 1946-1949), he served as commander of the Northeast Field Army and commanded major Campaigns such as the Liaoshen Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served successively as a member, Standing Committee member next Vice-Chairman of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, he also served as the Ministry of Defense, also served as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee, Vice-Chairman of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, Vice-Chairman of the first, second and third National Defense Commissions. Lin Biao served as the member of the 7th, 8th and 9th Central Committees of the Communist Party of China, member of the 7th, 8th and 9th Political Bureau of the Central Committees, (after being elected in the Fifth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee); Standing Committee member of the 8th and 9th, Political Bureau of the Central Committees, (after being elected in the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee); Vice-Chairman of the 8th and 9th Central Committees (after being elected in the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee). He was successively elected as member, standing committee member and Vice- Chairmen of the Central Military Commission, in the following meetings: the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in August 1937, the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in August 1945, the Political Bureau Meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in September 1954, and the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in September 1959. At the First Session of the 9th Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, he was elected as a member and Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

In the “Cultural Revolution”, he organized and led conspiracy activities, instigated an armed coup in order to seize the highest state power. Lin Biao also became instrumental in creating the foundations for Mao Zedong's cult of personality in the early 1960s, and was rewarded for his service in the “Cultural Revolution” by being named Mao's designated successor as the sole Vice-Chairman of the CPC, since 1966 until his death. After the collapse of the coup plot, he fled by an airplane on September 13, 1971 and died in a plane crash in Ondorhaan, Mongolia. In August 1973, he was expelled from the Party. In 1981, the Special Court under the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China ascertained him as the principal offender in the trial against the counterrevolutionary cliques of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing.