Jiang Qing
Jiang Qing Chiang Ching | |||||||||||
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江青 | |||||||||||
Jiang in 1976 | |||||||||||
| First Lady of China | |||||||||||
| In office 1 October 1949 – 9 September 1976 | |||||||||||
| Leader | Mao Zedong | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Han Zhijun | ||||||||||
| Spouse of the President of China | |||||||||||
| In office 27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959 | |||||||||||
| President | Mao Zedong | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wang Guangmei | ||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||
| Born | Li Shumeng or Li Jinhai March 1914 Zhucheng, Shandong, China | ||||||||||
| Died | 14 May 1991 (aged 77) Beijing, China | ||||||||||
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging | ||||||||||
| Party | Chinese Communist Party | ||||||||||
| Spouses | Pei Minglun
(m. 1931; div. 1931) | ||||||||||
| Children | Li Na | ||||||||||
| Relatives | Mao family (by marriage) | ||||||||||
| Criminal penalty | Death sentence with reprieve, later commuted to life imprisonment | ||||||||||
| Signature | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 江青 | ||||||||||
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Jiang Qing (March 1914 – 14 May 1991; also spelled as Chiang Ch'ing), born Li Yunhe, and briefly known by her stage name Lan Ping in the 1930s Shanghai, was a Chinese revolutionary, actress, and political figure. The fourth wife of Mao Zedong, she played a major role in the Cultural Revolution and led the Gang of Four.
Born into a declining family with an abusive father and a mother who worked as a domestic servant and sometime prostitute, Jiang joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1933. She pursued an acting career in Shanghai before going to Yan'an, where she married Mao in 1938. In the 1940s, she worked as Mao's personal secretary, and during the 1950s, she headed the Film Section of the Publicity Department.
Jiang wielded considerable influence during the Cultural Revolution. In 1969, she secured a seat on the Politburo. Following Mao's death, she was arrested and blamed for the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. Initially sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in a televised trial, Jiang's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1983. Released for medical treatment in the early 1990s, she committed suicide in May 1991.