Peng Qi'an (; born 1932 in

Chenghai Chenghai (; postal: Tenghai; Teochew: Thěng Hài) is a district of the city of Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. Located at the Han River Delta in the southeast part of Guangdong Province, Chenghai spans from 116°41' to 116°54' E longitud ...

3 January 2023) was a Chinese municipal official and survivor 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 ...

who founded a museum in

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 20 ...

to commemorate the victims of the revolution, which opened in 2005. He continued to serve as its volunteer curator. The museum was closed in 2016.

Persecution during Cultural Revolution

During the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, Peng was subjected to at least 30 criticism sessions. In 1967 he was on a list of five people for whom execution was recommended to higher authorities, due to his alleged association with a "

counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...

" group named after two local leaders who had lost power.

Later career

After the Cultural Revolution and rehabilitation, Peng remained in 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 ...

(CCP). From 1979 until 1983, he served as CCP Committee Secretary of

Chaozhou Chaozhou ( zh, t=潮州), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, ...

. He later served as the executive vice mayor of

, overseeing the transportation, energy and telecommunications sectors. In the subsequent years until his retirement in 1999, he served a consultant for the Shantou municipal government. In 2012 he was chosen as an "excellent party member" of Shantou.

Chinese Cultural Revolution Museum

In 1996, Peng came across dozens of graves scattered around the slopes of Tashan Scenic Area. Having learned that these were victims of the Cultural Revolution who had died in 1967 and 1968, he started his efforts to turn the park into a memorial site. He used a special mayor's fund to the amount of , which he was entitled to use at his discretion, as start-up funds. He intensified his efforts after his retirement from public office in 1999. The district government originally opposed the construction of the museum. Friends and other officials expressed their worries to Peng that he might run afoul of authorities, but Peng remained unfazed. The total funds raised by Peng amounted to over . The donors included many friends of Peng who were fellow survivors. In 2003, Peng received from a friend a copy of a book by Yang Kelin (杨克林) entitled ''Cultural Revolution Museum''. The descriptions in the book served as a blueprint for the main museum building. On 1 January 2005, the museum was officially opened as the first museum in China dedicated to the Cultural Revolution. In 2015, Peng handed over the museum to the local government, citing his old age. In late April 2016 the museum was closed down, fenced off and all inscriptions, monuments, and more were covered up. In an interview with the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Peng expressed his belief that the order to close the museum had come not from local officials but "above", refusing further discussion of this point.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qi'an, Peng Chinese curators Victims of the Cultural Revolution People from Chenghai 1932 births Chinese Communist Party politicians from Guangdong 2023 deaths