Luo Ruiqing (; May 31, 1906 – August 3, 1978), formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a Chinese army officer and politician, general of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

. As the first Minister of Public Security from 1949 to 1959, he established the security and police apparatus of the People's Republic of China after the Communist victory in the civil war, and then served as the Chief of the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense, ...

from 1959 to 1965, achieving military victory in the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

. Despite being a close associate and supporter of

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 ...

for decades, Luo was targeted, purged, and severely beaten during 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 ...

, which he opposed from the beginning.

Biography

Luo Ruiqing was born in

Nanchong Nanchong ( zh, c=南充 , p=Nánchōng , w=Nan-ch'ung; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 liv ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

in 1906 and joined 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 ...

in 1928 at the age of 22. He was the eldest son of a wealthy landlord named Luo Chunting (罗春庭), who had a total of six children. However, Luo Chunting was an opium addict and lost all his wealth due to his addiction, and the entire family had to rely on Luo Ruiqing's mother, who left no first name, but only her surname Xian (鲜). Despite the decline in family wealth, Luo's family was still able to afford the large sum of money needed for his education, and this fact was used by the

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 ...

to attack Luo during the

. Luo's early life was deliberately ignored in official Chinese records until the 1990s because his petty bourgeois background did not fit into the political environment until the end of the 20th century. Luo participated in the

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

and held several security posts in the

. He was transferred to

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

to oversee the training of young cadres. He led several purges of supporters of former

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Wang Ming Wang Ming (; May 23, 1904 – March 27, 1974) was a senior leader of the early Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He led the CCP delegation to the Comintern, Communist International (Comintern) from 1931 to 1937. After returning to China, he came ...

. He was then put in charge of eliminating the faction loyal to

Zhang Guotao Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979) was a Chinese revolutionary who was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact ...

's rival in the Fourth Front Army, shortly after his political defeat. After the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Luo was appointed Minister of Public Security and a member of the

Central Military Commission Central Military Commission may refer to: *Central Military Commission (China), the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China. *Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the highest body in Vietnam ...

. As such, he was responsible for consolidating the new system against its internal enemies; in 1950, at a conference in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, he supported the establishment of a paramilitary force under his ministry, similar to the Soviet MVD. Luo fought in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

from 1950 to 1953. In 1955, he was decorated as ''

Da Jiang Jiang (Wade-Giles, formerly romanized chiang and usually translated general (rank), general) is a general officer rank used by China and Taiwan. It is also used as jang in North Korea, North and South Korea, shō in Japan, and tướng in Vietna ...

'', or General of the Army, the highest rank of general in the

. At the Eighth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1956, he was elected a member of the Central Committee and its

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who was the ninth winn ...

, and Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission. He was also elected a Vice-Premier of the State Council in 1959. After

Huang Kecheng Huang Kecheng () (October 1, 1902 – December 28, 1986) was a senior general (大将) in the People's Liberation Army. Biography Huang Kecheng was born in Yongxing, Hunan Province, and he was the third of four children. His father ...

was removed from his posts along with

Peng Dehuai Peng Dehuai (October 24, 1898November 29, 1974; also spelled as Peng Teh-Huai) was a Chinese general and politician who was the Minister of National Defense (China), Minister of National Defense from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor ...

in 1959, Luo replaced him as chief of the

. However, his reluctance to follow Mao's idea of emphasizing political education in the army and his rifts with

Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...

led to his dismissal in December 1965, although he remained a vice premier. During the early stages of the

, he was branded as part of the "Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang Anti-Party Clique" (with

Peng Zhen Peng Zhen (pronounced ; October 12, 1902 – April 26, 1997) was a Chinese politician and leading member of the Chinese Communist Party. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War i ...

, Lu Dingyi, and

Yang Shangkun Yang Shangkun (3 August 1907 – 14 September 1998) was a Chinese Chinese Communist Party, Communist military and political leader, president of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated the par ...

). In October 1968, Luo was relieved of all his posts. After criticism sessions, he attempted suicide by jumping from the third floor of a building in the Jingxi Hotel, surviving with both legs broken. This was seen as proof of his guilt, and he received further public criticism after he recovered. He was hospitalized several times in the following years and had his left leg amputated in 1969. Luo was rehabilitated by Mao during a meeting of the Central Military Commission in 1975, when Mao realized that Lin Biao had fabricated a case against the former general. In 1977, Luo was elected to the 11th Central Committee and regained his post as CMC Secretary-General. Luo died on August 3, 1978, while in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

for medical treatment.

External links

High Tide of Terror
a strongly critical article about Luo Ruiqing published on March 5, 1956, by Time Magazine

Xinhuanet Xinhuanet is a state media company controlled by Xinhua News Agency. Headquartered in Beijing, it operates more than 30 local channels distributed across China and manages more than ten sub-websites of Xinhua News Agency. The company is listed o ...

杨成武谈揭批罗瑞卿实情
(" Yang Chengwu discusses the true facts about the campaign to expose and criticise Luo Ruiqing"), ''Yanhuang Chunqiu'' magazine, Beijing, 2005 Vol. 10. General Yang Chengwu, who took part in the campaign against Luo, recalls the events. {{DEFAULTSORT:Luo, Ruiqing 1906 births 1978 deaths Politicians from Nanchong People's Liberation Army generals from Sichuan People's Republic of China politicians from Sichuan Chinese Communist Party politicians from Sichuan Victims of the Cultural Revolution Ministers of public security of the People's Republic of China People's Liberation Army Chiefs of General Staff Burials at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery Alternates of the 7th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

Biography

See also

External links