Bo Yibo
Encyclopedia
Bo Yibo (February 17, 1908 – January 15, 2007) was a Chinese politician and one of the Eight Immortals of the Communist Party of China.
He was alternate member and then member of the Politburo
, deputy prime minister, chairman of State Economic Commission and vice-chairman of Central Advisory Commission of the Communist Party of China
. Bo was one of the revolutionary veterans purged by the Mao Zedong
-backed Gang of Four
who returned to power after Mao's death.
Bo Yibo was born in Taiyuan
, Shanxi
, in 1908. He joined the CPC in 1925, at the age of 17. He first surfaces in 1925 as CPC secretary of the party branch at Shanxi Civic Teachers’ College, and later deputy secretary and secretary of the party committee in Northern Taiyuan. In 1927, Bo became CPC secretary-general of the Northern Bureau of the Central Military Commission. A year later, he was secretary for military affairs of the Tianjin CPC Committee and chief of the military committee for North China. He was captured by Chiang Kai-shek
’s Kuomintang police in 1931 and, under orders from the CPC, signed an anti-communist confession. After his release, he returned to Shanxi where he became secretary of the provincial party working group in 1936 and was instrumental in recuriting warlord Yan Xishan
to the communist cause. Bo joined the final stages of the Long March
.
Bo was one of a select group of powerful veterans centred around late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping
who were informally known as the Eight Immortals for the vast influence they commanded until gradually succumbing to old age and death mostly in the 1990s. By some reckonings Bo was the last immortal to – in Deng’s phrase – “go to meet Marx”, but he is survived by 93-year-old Wan Li
, another former vice-premier widely considered to have been one of the eight.
era, Bo was Executive Vice Chair of the Shanxi border region and Vice Chair of its CPC committee. His career from the late 1930s into the 1950s was closely aligned with that of Liu Shaoqi
. In 1947, Bo’s Jin-Yi-Lu-Yu Bureau was merged with General (later Marshal) Nie Rongzhen
’s Jin-Cha-Ji Bureau into the new CCP North China Bureau. General Nie ran military affairs, and although Liu Shaoqi was nominally in charge of the party and government, his duties elsewhere gave daily control to Bo.
This North China organization eventually evolved into the core of the national government established October 1, 1949. Among the North Bureau’s key players were Peng Zhen
, An Ziwen
, Lu Dingyi
, Liu Lantao, Liao Luyan and Yang Xianzhen
.
and Rao Shushi
as it was about fiscal policies deemed insufficiently pro-state.
Later in the 1950s, he was among the veteran planners resistant to Mao Zedong’s economic policies. Others in opposition to the Great Leap Forward
and similar extreme economic measures included Chen Yun
, Li Xiannian
, Li Fuchun
and Yao Yilin
. Bo served as Vice Chair (1952–1956) and later Chair (1956–1959) of the State Planning Commission, when he presided over the economic policies of the Great Leap Forward.
Bo Yibo was a member of the CPC Politburo from the 8th National Party Congress in 1956 to the beginning of the GPCR, and again in the early Deng Xiaoping era, from 1979 until the 12th National Party Congress in 1982, when most of the elders retired.
During the Cultural Revolution
, Bo was imprisoned as a political prisoner by Jiang Qing
, Chairman Mao's wife, for his pro-democratic activities and for advocating freedom of trade with western countries. He was held in a prison with some of the worst conditions available for fifteen years, during which time his wife was beaten to death. His sons and daughters were either imprisoned (e.g. Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai and Bo Xicheng, at the ages of sixteen, seventeen and seventeen again respectively) or sent to some of the poorest places in China (e.g. Bo Xining, at the age of fourteen). On February 9, 1967, a large struggle rally targeting Bo was held in Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium. Bo was reportedly more defiant than other Cultural Revolution victims, demanding (unsuccessfully) to be allowed to speak in his own defense. Bo was tortured by the Red Guard
during most of 1967.
Bo important contribution toward the Chinese economic reform
was mainly in the early 1980s, when the reform was at its difficult time in its infancy. During the debate on whether free market economy should be allowed or not, Bo was firmly on the reformers' side. Once the free market economy was allowed, the hardline conservatives attempted to restrict it by limiting the maximum number of employees each private enterprise could have: no more than eight according to the orthordox Marxism
, because anymore would be exploitation. Bo Yibo's support of private enterprises in free market economy was instrumental in helping to defeat the hardline conservatives' attempt to thwart the market reform. Bo's further support of economic reform came from one of his trips to Boeing
facilities in the United States in the 1980s. During his visit, Bo discovered that there were only two airplanes parked at the facility. He asked the Boeing executives whether there would be any left if the two were gone. Boeing executives answered that it was exactly what they wanted because their production is based on customers' order and anything more than necessary would be a waste of money and other resources, for example when they could not fill customers' orders according to the schedule. After this visit to Boeing, Bo became much more critical to the Chinese practice of planned economy
, accurately pointing out that the excess production plans were in fact a waste on resources, and even for the planned economy, it should be planned market economy instead of the rigid Soviet style planning.
Despite his support of economic reform, Bo was by no means a reformer like Hu Yaobang
, Zhao Ziyang
, Wan Li
and Hu Qili
in the political reform arena: after the 1982 12th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Bo was kicked upstairs to the vice chairmanship (equal to politburo rank) of the toothless CPC Central Advisory Committee, but remained instrumental in removing CPC Secretary General Hu Yaobang
from power. He returned to a leadership position when he urged a crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
and actively supported the removal of Zhao Ziyang
. Bo died of old age at almost 99 in a Beijing hospital.
is called one of the "Crown Prince Party
" and is head of the Communist Party in Chongqing, while the rest of his children obtained foreign residency, such as his daughter, who obtained American citizenship and resides in the U.S.
He was alternate member and then member of the Politburo
Politburo of the Communist Party of China
The Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China or Political bureau of the CPC Central Committee , formerly as Central Bureau before 1927, is a group of 24 people who oversee the Communist Party of China...
, deputy prime minister, chairman of State Economic Commission and vice-chairman of Central Advisory Commission of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
. Bo was one of the revolutionary veterans purged by the Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
-backed Gang of Four
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...
who returned to power after Mao's death.
Bo Yibo was born in Taiyuan
Taiyuan
Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 km² whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 km². The name of the city literally means "Great Plains", referring to the location where the Fen River...
, Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
, in 1908. He joined the CPC in 1925, at the age of 17. He first surfaces in 1925 as CPC secretary of the party branch at Shanxi Civic Teachers’ College, and later deputy secretary and secretary of the party committee in Northern Taiyuan. In 1927, Bo became CPC secretary-general of the Northern Bureau of the Central Military Commission. A year later, he was secretary for military affairs of the Tianjin CPC Committee and chief of the military committee for North China. He was captured by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
’s Kuomintang police in 1931 and, under orders from the CPC, signed an anti-communist confession. After his release, he returned to Shanxi where he became secretary of the provincial party working group in 1936 and was instrumental in recuriting warlord Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
to the communist cause. Bo joined the final stages of the Long March
Long March
The Long March was a massive military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang army. There was not one Long March, but a series of marches, as various Communist armies in the south...
.
Bo was one of a select group of powerful veterans centred around late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
who were informally known as the Eight Immortals for the vast influence they commanded until gradually succumbing to old age and death mostly in the 1990s. By some reckonings Bo was the last immortal to – in Deng’s phrase – “go to meet Marx”, but he is survived by 93-year-old Wan Li
Wan Li
Wan Li was during a long administrative career in the People's Republic of China Vice Premier, National People's Congress Chairman, and a member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, its Secretariat and its Politburo...
, another former vice-premier widely considered to have been one of the eight.
Pre-1949 Career
During the Yan'anYan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
era, Bo was Executive Vice Chair of the Shanxi border region and Vice Chair of its CPC committee. His career from the late 1930s into the 1950s was closely aligned with that of Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and theorist. He was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, China's head of state, from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China...
. In 1947, Bo’s Jin-Yi-Lu-Yu Bureau was merged with General (later Marshal) Nie Rongzhen
Nie Rongzhen
Nie Rongzhen was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and one of ten Marshals in the People's Liberation Army of China. He was the last surviving PLA officer with the rank of Marshal.-Biography:...
’s Jin-Cha-Ji Bureau into the new CCP North China Bureau. General Nie ran military affairs, and although Liu Shaoqi was nominally in charge of the party and government, his duties elsewhere gave daily control to Bo.
This North China organization eventually evolved into the core of the national government established October 1, 1949. Among the North Bureau’s key players were Peng Zhen
Peng Zhen
Peng Zhen was a leading member of the Communist Party of China.-Biography:Born in Houma , Peng was originally named Fu Maogong....
, An Ziwen
An Ziwen
An Ziwen , born as An Zhihan, was a Chinese politician and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He served as minister of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department, the Central People's Government Minister of Personnel, deputy secretary of the Central Discipline...
, Lu Dingyi
Lu Dingyi
Lu Dingyi was a former leader of the Communist Party of China. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China and before the Cultural Revolution, he was credited as one of the top officials in socialist culture.-Biography:...
, Liu Lantao, Liao Luyan and Yang Xianzhen
Yang Xianzhen
Yang Xianzhen was a Chinese Communist politician who was the tenth president of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the highest training center for party workers and leaders...
.
Post-1949 Career
In the first years after 1949, Bo was Minister of Finance, a position he lost in December 1953 to his political ally of the time, Deng Xiaoping. His ouster was as much the result of a factional dispute with Gao GangGao Gang
Gao Gang was a Chinese Communist Party leader during the Chinese Civil War and the early years of the People's Republic of China , before becoming the victim of the first major purge within the CCP since before 1949...
and Rao Shushi
Rao Shushi
Rao Shushi like his confederate Gao Gang, was a senior leader of the Communist Party of China , who once enjoyed great power and fame that then quickly evaporated, leaving behind many mysteries about his rise and fall.-Early years:...
as it was about fiscal policies deemed insufficiently pro-state.
Later in the 1950s, he was among the veteran planners resistant to Mao Zedong’s economic policies. Others in opposition to the Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
and similar extreme economic measures included Chen Yun
Chen Yun
Chen Yun was one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China during the 1980s and 90s, and one of the top leaders of the Communist Party of China for almost its entire history. He was also known as Liao Chengyun ; it's unclear whether this was his original name or a pseudonym...
, Li Xiannian
Li Xianniàn
Li Xiannian was President of the People's Republic of China between 1983 and 1988 and then chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until his death. He was an influential political figure throughout the PRC, having been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of...
, Li Fuchun
Li Fuchun
Li Fuchun was a politician of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China.-Biography:Li Fuchun was born in Changsha, Hunan Province. After completing middle school in his home province, in 1919 he traveled to France to attend a work-study program and here he started his...
and Yao Yilin
Yao Yilin
Yao Yilin was a deputy Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1983 to 1988, and the country's First Vice Premier from 1988 to 1993. He was born in Hong Kong in 1917, and spent his early years in Guichi, Chizhou, Anhui. Yao joined the Communist Party of China in 1935...
. Bo served as Vice Chair (1952–1956) and later Chair (1956–1959) of the State Planning Commission, when he presided over the economic policies of the Great Leap Forward.
Bo Yibo was a member of the CPC Politburo from the 8th National Party Congress in 1956 to the beginning of the GPCR, and again in the early Deng Xiaoping era, from 1979 until the 12th National Party Congress in 1982, when most of the elders retired.
During the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, Bo was imprisoned as a political prisoner by Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Communist Party of China power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
, Chairman Mao's wife, for his pro-democratic activities and for advocating freedom of trade with western countries. He was held in a prison with some of the worst conditions available for fifteen years, during which time his wife was beaten to death. His sons and daughters were either imprisoned (e.g. Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai and Bo Xicheng, at the ages of sixteen, seventeen and seventeen again respectively) or sent to some of the poorest places in China (e.g. Bo Xining, at the age of fourteen). On February 9, 1967, a large struggle rally targeting Bo was held in Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium. Bo was reportedly more defiant than other Cultural Revolution victims, demanding (unsuccessfully) to be allowed to speak in his own defense. Bo was tortured by the Red Guard
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
during most of 1967.
Bo important contribution toward the Chinese economic reform
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform refers to the program of economic reforms called "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" in the People's Republic of China that were started in December 1978 by reformists within the Communist Party of China led by Deng Xiaoping.China had one of the world's largest...
was mainly in the early 1980s, when the reform was at its difficult time in its infancy. During the debate on whether free market economy should be allowed or not, Bo was firmly on the reformers' side. Once the free market economy was allowed, the hardline conservatives attempted to restrict it by limiting the maximum number of employees each private enterprise could have: no more than eight according to the orthordox Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, because anymore would be exploitation. Bo Yibo's support of private enterprises in free market economy was instrumental in helping to defeat the hardline conservatives' attempt to thwart the market reform. Bo's further support of economic reform came from one of his trips to Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
facilities in the United States in the 1980s. During his visit, Bo discovered that there were only two airplanes parked at the facility. He asked the Boeing executives whether there would be any left if the two were gone. Boeing executives answered that it was exactly what they wanted because their production is based on customers' order and anything more than necessary would be a waste of money and other resources, for example when they could not fill customers' orders according to the schedule. After this visit to Boeing, Bo became much more critical to the Chinese practice of planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
, accurately pointing out that the excess production plans were in fact a waste on resources, and even for the planned economy, it should be planned market economy instead of the rigid Soviet style planning.
Despite his support of economic reform, Bo was by no means a reformer like Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang was a leader of the People's Republic of China who served as both Chairman and Party General Secretary. Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s, and rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping...
, Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China . He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989....
, Wan Li
Wan Li
Wan Li was during a long administrative career in the People's Republic of China Vice Premier, National People's Congress Chairman, and a member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, its Secretariat and its Politburo...
and Hu Qili
Hu Qili
Hu Qili is a politician of the People's Republic of China.-Biography:In 1948 at the age of 19, Hu joined the Communist Party of China . He studied at Peking University from 1946-1951...
in the political reform arena: after the 1982 12th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Bo was kicked upstairs to the vice chairmanship (equal to politburo rank) of the toothless CPC Central Advisory Committee, but remained instrumental in removing CPC Secretary General Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang was a leader of the People's Republic of China who served as both Chairman and Party General Secretary. Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s, and rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping...
from power. He returned to a leadership position when he urged a crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
and actively supported the removal of Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China . He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989....
. Bo died of old age at almost 99 in a Beijing hospital.
Family
His son Bo XilaiBo Xilai
Bo Xilai is the Communist Party of China Chongqing Committee Secretary, first-in-charge of the Western interior municipality and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China...
is called one of the "Crown Prince Party
Crown Prince Party
In modern usage, the Crown Prince Party, or The Princelings, refers to the descendants of prominent and influential senior communist officials in the People's Republic of China. It is not a political party, but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from...
" and is head of the Communist Party in Chongqing, while the rest of his children obtained foreign residency, such as his daughter, who obtained American citizenship and resides in the U.S.
External links
- Searchable biography of Bo Yibo, China Vitae
- Report of death
- Bo Yibo, Chinese revolutionary, dies at 98 - Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
obituary - Bo Yibo, leader who helped reshape Chinese economy, dies at 98 - New York Times obituary
- Obituary in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...