Chu Anping (, 1909–1966?) was a Chinese scholar, liberal

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and editor of ''Guancha'' (观察, The Observer) in the Civil War era of the late 1940s. He is widely considered to be one of the most famous liberals in China. He was Editor of the China Democratic League newspaper "for intellectuals", the '' Guangming Daily'', in the PRC era. Following publication of his article entitled "The Party Dominates the World", he was attacked by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

in the Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1957 and purged during the

Anti-Rightist Movement The Anti-Rightist Campaign () in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from 1957 to roughly 1959, was a political campaign to purge alleged "Rightists" within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the country as a whole. The campaign was l ...

. It is believed that he committed suicide in 1966. He was father to Chu Wanghua (), a contemporary Chinese composer based in Australia, and grandfather to Mark Chu, a multidisciplinary artist.

Career outline

* 1932 graduated from the English department, Kwang Hua University, Shanghai. * 1933 appointed editor of Central Daily (Nanjing) supplement. * 1936 travelled to England to collect political texts, studying at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. * September 1, 1946 organized ''Observer'' semi-monthly publication, let the organization head and chief editor. On December 25, 1948 is sealed up by Kuomintang. * 1954 was appointed September Third Society members of the Central Committee concurrently propaganda department vice-minister, and no matter what National People's Congress represented. * April 1, 1957 Chu was appointed ''Guangming Daily'' editor-in-chief.

Biography

On June 1, 1957, at the symposium convened by the Department for United Front Work of the CCP Central Committee, Chu made a speech entitled "Comment made to Chairman Mao And Premier Zhou," which stated that

had seen the "world s theparty's". Both the government and the people felt the tremendous reverberations. '' People's Daily'' and '' Guangming Daily'' both published the full text the next day with banner headlines and in a prominent position. In January 1958, in the

Chu was labelled a "anti-party anti-people anti-socialism bourgeois rightist".

Disappearance

In 1966 at the start of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, Chu was persecuted, then soon went missing. His whereabouts were unknown and it was believed that he was either beaten to death by Red Guards or committed suicide. In 2015, a funeral was finally held for Chu in his home county, Yixing. Photographs and a book were placed in an urn and buried in a symbolic grave by his three sons. State-run media said it was not a moment to re-evaluate the past, and his son Chu Wanghua said “Today is not a sad day. Today is a day of commemoration and remembrance.”
Legacy of ‘rightist’ editor Chu Anping remains controversial five decades after his disappearance
' South China Morning Post 23 March 2015

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