The Death of Lin Biao

The Death of Lin Biao

The death of Lin Biao remains one of the more controversial incidents in modern Chinese history. Did he die in a plane crash in Mongolia in 1971, having failed in a coup against Chairman Mao Zedong or was he murdered by persons unknown beforehand? Mao-sponsored history supports the former but evidence (or at least assertion) increasingly speculates about the possibility of the latter.

Who Was Lin Biao?

Lin Biao was born Lin Yurong in 1907 as the son of a small landowner. He seemed to be destined for a military career from a young age and in due course graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy. Throughout his life, he appears to have suffered from poor health and a diminutive appearance - some have also speculated mental illness during some periods of his life. Certainly, whenever he was pictured alongside Mao, the Chairman dwarfed him in both physical size and healthy robustness, as if he were the embodiment of rude, rural, good health.

Nevertheless, Lin Biao persisted in his career, contending against Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang faction and taking a strong role in the Chinese Civil War. It was Lin's troops who formed the vanguard for the Long March that helped unify the Communist Party under Mao. Lin avoided politics for many years and, despite the later damage to his reputation (deserved or not), he is still commemorated as one of the military heroes of the ultimate victory of the Chinese Communist Party.

Cultural Revolution

It was during the Cultural Revolution that Lin Biao became prominent in political circles and this seems eventually to have sealed his fate. Alongside Jiang Ching, Madame Mao, Lin Biao took a leading role in the Revolution that led to thousands - perhaps as many as 500,000 - of innocent people, professionals mostly, being persecuted, suffering internal exile, relentless sessions of public criticisms and beatings. Quite why Lin Biao would support such a campaign is unclear and it is possible that his role was not of his own making. His position had been boosted by his success as a commander in the War with India in 1962 and he became, perhaps, more of a figurehead than a genuine participant in the Cultural Revolution. Lin had long been associated with Soviet interests and, as Mao broke with the Russians, his position necessarily worsened. Secrecy still surrounds many aspects of the politics of that time.

A Coup?

In 1971, as Lin Biao was, apparently, planning to speak out against Mao's increasing usurpation of total power. He supported the restoration of some countervailing posts to Mao as General Secretary and, according to the official history, then launched some kind of coup against Mao which failed, possibly thanks to the vigilance and determination of loyal military bodyguards. Lin, together with his family, is then said to have tried to flee the country by taking a plane and flying it to Soviet territory. However, owing to a technical problem, the plane crashed in Mongolia and the whole family killed.

Anchee Min, in her novel Becoming Madame Mao, is just one (albeit fictional) source questioning the veracity of this tale. Jung Chang and Jon Halliday in their revisionist version of Mao's life do the same, assessing the evidence in great and characteristic detail. What remains in little doubt is that tiny Lin Biao remained a hero to the Chinese people and, despite having been labelled one of the two great counter-revolutionaries (together with Jiang Ching), still occupies a prominent position in the history of the Communist victory.