Bian Zhongyun (; 19 June 19165 August 1966) was a deputy principal at the Beijing Normal University Female Middle School (now Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University). She was attracted to the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

and joined the party in 1941, and before working for the high school in Beijing, she worked as an editor for ''

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

'' then located in rural

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. During the

Red August Red August () is a term used to indicate a period of political violence and massacres in Beijing beginning in August 1966, during the Cultural Revolution. According to official statistics published in 1980 after the end of the Cultural Revolution ...

of 1966, she was beaten to death by the school's female

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

, becoming the first educator to be beaten to death in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution.

Life

Bian was raised in

Wuwei, Anhui Wuwei () is a county-level city in the southeast of Anhui Province, China, under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Wuhu. Previously a county, Wuwei was upgraded to a county-level city in late 2019. It has population of 1,214,000 ...

. During the

of 1966 that marked the opening of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

in Beijing, she was among the first victims, being beaten to death with wooden sticks by a group of students, led by local student

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

leader

Song Binbin Song Binbin (; 1947 – September 16, 2024), also known as Song Yaowu (), was a Chinese woman who, as a 19-year old, began engaging in violence that led to a role as a senior leader in the Chinese Red Guards during the call to violence by Mao ...

. Prior to her death, Bian had been the party leader at the school. In 1966, Mao had urged young people to rise up against their parents and teachers. Song Binbin and another student, Liu Jin, put up the first poster denouncing teachers at the school. In March 1966, after an earthquake near Beijing, the school told students that they should run out of the classroom as soon as possible if another earthquake occurred. Red Guard students tested Bian, by asking if they should carry out the portrait of Mao in their classrooms. She did not answer the question directly, only repeating that they should run out of the classroom as soon as possible. She was therefore accused of opposing

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. Later, Bian was further denounced as a "counter-revolutionary revisionist" by Song's group of

Murder

Red Guard students broke in to Bian’s home, burning her books. They left behind posters threatening to “rip out your dog heart, lop off your dog head”. Bian was taken to the school, and subjected to a

struggle session Struggle sessions (), or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "Five Black Categories, class enemies" were public humiliation, publicly humiliated, accused, beaten ...

. She was beaten, dragged on stage in shackles, and was forced to kneel while she was kicked and beaten with rifles. The students beat Bian with nailed clubs. She was forced to clean the school toilets and drink from a dirty bucket.

Aftermath

Bian's husband, Wang Jingyao, has stated that he was informed by anonymous witnesses that the female students who delivered the final blow did not include Song Binbin, even though Song was the nominal leader of the group. Song has stated that although she was one of the leading Red Guards in the school during the unrest, she did not participate in the killing of Bian Zhongyun. For several decades, witnesses, including Wang and Song, refused to openly name the students who were involved in the killing as they were politically connected individuals. In 2005, the daughter of

Zhang Bojun Zhang Bojun ( zh, s=章伯钧, t=章伯鈞, p=Zhāng Bójūn; November 17, 1895 – May 17, 1969) was a Chinese politician and intellectual, and was removed from his ministerial position in the late 1950s after being declared "China's number one ...

, a prominent victim of the Cultural Revolution, wrote a book in which she finally named

Deng Rong Deng Rong () is a Chinese politician and the third daughter of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. She has been accused of playing a key role in the cover-up of the 1966 killing of Bian Zhongyun by Red Guards (Deng was a prominent student leader of ...

, the youngest daughter of

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

, as one of the perpetrators. In 2012, on his deathbed, Wang Jingyao finally confirmed that the students who delivered the final blow to his wife on 5 August 1966 included Liu Pingping, a daughter of

Liu Shaoqi Liu Shaoqi ( ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1954 to 1959, first-ranking Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communis ...

. Ironically, the Deng and Liu families would both become persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Professor

Wang Youqin Wang Youqin (Chinese: 王友琴; born 1952) is a scholar specializing in East Asian studies and is currently a professor at the University of Chicago. Wang is notable for her research on the Chinese cultural revolution, Chinese Cultural Revolut ...

, former Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University student, was among the first scholars to study the

of Beijing, the origin of the "Red Terror" of the

Chinese Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, during which students attacked and even killed their teachers. This included the murder of Bian Zhongyun.

Legacy

A documentary about her, '' Though I Am Gone'', was released in 2006. It claims that Song, a student leader involved in the

in the school, was sent to the United States to study on government sponsorship and invited back to Beijing Normal University as a prominent alumna. Song's father,

Song Renqiong Song Renqiong (; 11 July 1909 – 8 January 2005), born Song Yunqin (), was a general in the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and one of the Eight Elders of the Chinese Communist Party. Biography Song Renqion ...

was the mayor of Beijing and a high-ranking member of the

, thereby immunising her from any responsibility, direct or indirect, for Bian's death.

Notes

References