Talk:Bo Yibo

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[edit] Chinese age

From the article:

Bo died of old age at almost 99 in a Beijing hospital in mid January 2007.

The Chinese reckon a person's age differently than Westerners. Instead of computing the difference between someone's birth and death, they count the number of calendar years that someone has been alive. (This is similar to the way the Hebrews counted the reign of kings, wherein a reign lasted "one year" even if he was only in power for one month of that year.) They also consider a person already one year old when they are born. So by Chinese reckoning, Bo would be considered as having died at the age of 100. — Loadmaster 16:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

But when exactly was he born then? Extremely sexy 16:55, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Critique moved from comments subpage

The article is inaccurate in several aspects. First, it ignores Bo Yibo's undercover activities in the Guomindang areas before the Anti-Japanese war; during these activities he was arrested in 1931, and released in 1936 after "confessing" his crimes. This confession was done with the Party's approval; but it was considered Bo's crime during the Cultural Revolution (the so-called "61 renegades" affair).

Second, Yan Xishan never joined the Red Army; actually, he remained vehemently anti-Communist, even during the anti-Japanese war, and his cooperation with the Communist guerillas in Shanxi was short-lived. A propos, by 1937 the name "Red Army" was no longer employed by the Communist troops.

Third, the article makes a mess of Bo's post-1949 activities. He was indeed a supporter of lenient treatment of national bourgeoisie, but it is incorrect to call him an "advocate of freedom of trade with Western countries".

Fourth, he was rehabilitated in 1978 or 1979, so he spent no more than 13 years under arrest (but I do not know where he actually did stay at that particular time).

For his post-1949 activities, see briefly in R. MacFarquhar, ed., "The Politics of China," 1949-1989; see also an account of his trial in Shoenhals, "Cultural Revolution: Not a Diner Party". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.139.226.37 (talk • contribs).