Generations of Chinese Leadership - First Generation

First Generation

Although the first generation of leaders ruled collectively for only part of the period, and Mao Zedong was to a large extent a paramount, autocratic leader for most of the period, the successive leaders from the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 until Mao's death and the dismantling of the power of his closest deputies in 1976 are now referred to retrospectively as the "first generation" of leaders in official discourse.

Thus, the first generation, from 1949 to 1976, consisted of Mao Zedong as core, along with Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Peng Dehuai, and later Lin Biao and the Gang of Four (neither Lin nor the Gang are today considered by official discourse to be part of this generation because of political antagonism resulting from the Cultural Revolution). These were the leaders that founded the People's Republic of China after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. They were born between 1886 and 1907, although the Gang of Four were a distinct subgroup born 1914 to 1935. Most were born before the demise of the Qing Dynasty (not including the Gang) and thus lived to see both the birth and, on the mainland, the end of the Republic of China. One characteristic of these leaders were that they tended to be both political and military leaders. Most had some education outside China, and their formative experiences included the Long March, the Chinese Civil War, and the Second Sino-Japanese War. The guiding political ideology from the first generations were general principles of Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought.

Of this group, Mao, Zhou, Liu and Zhu were the four original members of the collective leadership from 1949 until the political turmoil of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which resulted in Mao gaining paramount autocratic power. Liu, then the President (or "Chairman of the State"), was removed from his party position in 1966, placed under house arrest in 1967, and died from torture and maltreatment in 1969. Zhu lost his position as Vice President in 1959, and his party position in 1966, after which he was politically sidelined until his death in 1976. Zhou was also attacked during the period, but was able to survive as premier until his death, also in 1976.

With the demise of Liu, Mao promoted Lin Biao as his deputy, and the "Gang of Four" to fill the role of his trusted henchmen. Lin fell out of favour, however, and died in 1971 while attempting to escape to the Soviet Union. The Gang of Four, which consisted of Jiang Qing (Madame Mao), and three other members meteorically promoted in the late 1960s, were the only members of the first generation of leadership to remain after Mao's death in 1976. Their demise came shortly afterwards in a political coup managed by what become the second generation of leaders.

Of the other members identified above, Chen Yun was sidelined from the early 1960s, lost his party position in 1969, but survived to play an influential role in the second generation of leadership. Peng Dehuai was denounced in 1959, made a brief return to government in 1965, but was detained by Red Guards from 1966 and died in prison from torture and maltreatment in 1974. While not named above, Deng Xiaoping, the core of the second generation of leadership, also played a key role in the first generation at various times, mainly as an ally of Zhou and Peng, but was purged from government in 1976 and remained sidelined at the time of Mao's death.