Talk:Yang Shangkun

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Need citation for this

It was known that Yang and his brother, Yang Baibing, had many supporters and allies in the military that their removal forced more than half of the top ranking officers into retirement.

[edit] Early life

I added some small details, but (for further discussion) I question whether General Yang was born in a county of "Chongqing Municipality," as this designation was from, I believe, the 1990s. Prior to that, Chongqing was simply a city in Sichuan, and the proper reference would be ". . . near Chongqing, Sichuan."DOR (HK) (talk) 05:35, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Zunyi Conference and Long March

Is all this really necessary, when there is are reasonably good articles already posted? DOR (HK) (talk) 06:02, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

OK, rather than just run rough-shod over this article, I'll post it here for discussion. DOR (HK) (talk) 07:10, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

After working in news and propaganda, Yang was assigned to direct the Political Department of the First Front Army, under Zhou Enlai and Zhu De in June 1933. He became Political Commissar of the Third Army Corps (under Peng Dehuai in 1934 and at the same time became an Alternate Member of the 6th Central Committee and an Executive Committee member of the Chinese Soviet Republic. < ref >http://www.people.com.cn/english/9809/21/a101.html </ ref >

Yang remained with Peng’s Third Army in the initial phase of the Long March, from October 1934 to the January 1935 Zunyi Conference, where he sided with the critics of Bo Gu and Li De. After the change in leadership that resulted from that meeting, Peng led the Third Army west, eventually linking up with Zhang Guotao’s Fourth Front Army at Lianghekou, between Changsha and Chongqing. In one of the many reorganizations that took place in this period, Yang became General Political Department (GPD) Deputy Director of the Red Army. < ref >ibid</ ref >

After arriving in Yenan, Yang was assigned as GPD Deputy Director of the Northwest Revolutionary Military Commission, in November 1935, GPD Director of the Anti-Japanese Vanguard Army in February 1936, of the Anti-Japanese Red Army University (Kang Da) in June, and of the CCP Front Committee General Headquarters in October of the same year. He served under Liu Shaoqi as CCP Deputy Secretary of the North China Bureau in August 1937, working in “White Areas” under KMT or Japanese control in Shandong, Hebei, Rehe, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi. He was promoted to North China Bureau Secretary when Liu was reassigned in late 1938. < ref >ibid</ ref >

In August 1941, Yang became president of the party school in Yenan, placing him under the direct authorty of security chief Deng Fa, and at the center of the Zheng Feng (Rectification) Campaign of 1942. After the 1945 7th National Party Congress, Yang became Secretary-General of the Military Affairs Commission, CCP Central Foreign Affairs Work Group Deputy Director, and later CCP Central Committee General Office Director and by 1947, commander of the Central Guard Unit (later known as Unit 8341). < ref >ibid</ ref >

Yang kept most of his key responsibilities in the army and party after the founding of the People’s Republic in October 1949. During the Korean War, he reportedly worked directly for Mao (1950-53). Yang was elected to the 8th Central Committee in 1956 and as an Alternate Member of its Secretariat, under General Secretary Deng Xiaoping. < ref >ibid</ ref >

In May, 1966, Yang was named part of the “Anti-Party Clique” and purged from all his posts. He was rehabilitated at the 3rd Plenum of the 11th Central Committee in December 1978, and named CCP Second Secretary of Guangdong province (1978-80), under Xi Zhongxun and First Political Commissar of the Guangdong Military District (79-80)^[1] at a time that saw the establishment of the first Special Economic Zones. During that time he also served as CCP First Secretary of Guangzhou.

Yang was promoted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in July 1979 and elected to the CCP Central Committee in September of that year. In 1982, at the 12th National Party Congress, Yang joined the Politburo as CCP Vice Chairman, Military Affairs Commission Vice Chairman, and, from September 1981, Military Commission Secretary General. Yang was elected President of the PRC in 1988 served until 1993.