Zhang Wentian | |
|---|---|
| 张闻天 | |
 Zhang in 1951 | |
| General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party | |
| In office 17 January 1935 – 20 March 1943 | |
| Preceded by | Bo Gu |
| Succeeded by | Mao Zedong (as Chairman) |
| Head of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party | |
| In office April 1931 – December 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Shen Zemin |
| Succeeded by | Wu Liangping |
| In office July 1937 – December 1942 | |
| Preceded by | Wu Liangping |
| Succeeded by | Lu Dingyi |
| Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office December 1954 – November 1960 | |
| Minister | Zhou Enlai |
| Ambassador of China to the Soviet Union | |
| In office April 1951 – January 1955 | |
| Preceded by | Wang Jiaxiang |
| Succeeded by | Liu Xiao |
| Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Chinese Soviet Republic | |
| In office 10 October 1934 – 6 September 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Mao Zedong |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 August 1900 Nanhui, Shanghai, Qing dynasty |
| Died | 1 July 1976 (aged 75) Beijing, People's Republic of China |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley, Moscow Sun Yat-sen University |
Zhang Wentian[a] (30 August 1900 – 1 July 1976) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Born in Nanhui, he attended the Hohai Civil Engineering School in Nanjing and spent a year at the University of California. He later joined the CCP in 1925 and was sent to study at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow, from 1926 to 1930. He was a member of the group known as the 28 Bolsheviks, but switched to supporting Mao Zedong during the Long March. He was General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1935 to 1943, when the post was abolished.[1] He remained a member of the Politburo, but ranked 12th of 13 in the 7th Politburo and reduced to Alternate Member in the 8th Politburo.
He was First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China from December 1954 to November 1960.[2] He was a participant of the Long March, and later served as an ambassador to the Soviet Union from April 1951 to January 1955. At the Lushan Conference in 1959 he supported Peng Dehuai and lost power along with Peng.[3] During the Cultural Revolution he was attacked as an ally of Peng and Liu Shaoqi; he was rehabilitated by Deng Xiaoping after Mao's death.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Snow, Edgar. Red Star Over China, Pelican edition 1972, page 553.
- ^ Zhang Wentian (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China)
- ^ Great Soviet Encyclopaedia