dc.description.abstract | Yang Shangkun, born in a landlord family, was considered a "revolutionary veteran" by Deng Xiaoping. In that era of political uncertainty, Yang adopted the ideology of communism under the influence of his brothers and joined Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1926. Later, he was sent to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow. It was the very experience during that critical period that Yang not just mellowed his thoughts of communism but also got acquainted some key persons of early CCP, including Wang Ming, Bo Gu, Zhang Wentian, Wang Jiaxiang, etc. Yang were even regarded as one of the group known as the Twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks and turned over a new leaf in political career with the aid of Communist International. Nevertheless, the perception of the development hardship of CCP along with the actual combat experience accumulated from the Long March had turned gradually from following the direction of the Communist International firmly and the position of making USSR the top priority to the tendency toward identifying with the Maoist line, which took Chinese characteristic into consideration. Yang used to abide by decree quietly and took full responsibility of carrying out his duty according to following reasons: being convinced by Mao Zedong, being skilled at watching and observing, being capable of offering a position if necessary. It was his meek, modest attitude that not only provided him a good opportunity to promote to a higher position within the Communist Party but also paved him the way to the authority core of Mao’s camp.
Owing to Yang’s diplomatic practice and his trait of taking good care of everything in addition to his faith, Mao appointed him to an important position, such as the Director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee. However, the impact of a series of domestic and foreign events, such as the failure of “Three Red Flags” in 1958 and the siutation of the “Sino–Soviet split” in the early 1960s invoked Mao’s intense crisis consciousness. As a result, he attempted to launch a political struggle to consolidate his authority. At that time, Yang, after administering the General Office of the CCP Central Committee for a long time, was dismissed by Mao from the office and turn out to be the victim of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao. Yang, being grouped into the "Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang Anti-Party Clique," was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution till 1978, when he was rehabilitated by CCP.
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