Liu Shaoqi, the son of a landowner, was born in Yinshan, China, in 1898. Yinshan is a town in Wangcheng County, which is near Changsha city, the capital of Hunan Province.

The birth place of Liu Shaoqi

While at school he met Mao Zedong. After studying Russian in Shanghai he went to live and study in the Soviet Union.

On his return he joined the Chinese Communist Party. Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Kuomintang, died on 12th March 1925. Chiang Kai-Shek emerged as the new leader of the Kuomintang. He now carried out a purge that eliminated the communists from the organization. Those communists who survived managed to established the Jiangxi Soviet.

The nationalists now imposed a blockade and Mao Zedong decided to evacuate the area and establish a new stronghold in the north-west of China. In October 1934 Liu Shaoqi, Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Zhu De, and some 100,000 men and their dependents headed west through mountainous areas.

The marchers experienced terrible hardships. The most notable passages included the crossing of the suspension bridge over a deep gorge at Luting (May, 1935), travelling over the Tahsueh Shan mountains (August, 1935) and the swampland of Sikang (September, 1935).

Liu with his wife Wang Guangmei(L). Liu in youth (R). Liu in 1960s.

The marchers covered about fifty miles a day and reached Shensi on 20th October 1935. It is estimated that only around 30,000 survived the 8,000-mile Long March.

When the Japanese Army invaded the heartland of China in 1937, Chiang Kai-Shek was forced to move his capital from Nanking to Chungking. He lost control of the coastal regions and most of the major cities to Japan. In an effort to beat the Japanese he agreed to collaborate with Mao Zedong and his communist army.

During this period Liu Shaoqi became an expert in the theory of party organization and in 1939 published How to be a Good Communist. In 1943 he became Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party.

During the Second World War the communist guerrilla forces were well led by Zhu De and Lin Biao. As soon as the Japanese surrendered, Communist forces began a war against the Nationalists led by Chaing Kai-Shek. The communists gradually gained control of the country and on 1st October, 1949, Mao announced the establishment of People's Republic of China. Soon afterwards Liu Shaoqi was appointed Vice-Chairman in the party under Mao, and the president of the country.

As a result of the failure on the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong retired from the post of chairman of the People's Republic of China. Liu Shaoqi replaced Mao as head of state. Mao remained important in determining overall policy. In the early 1960s Mao became highly critical of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union. He was for example appalled by the way Nikita Khrushchev backed down over the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Mao Zedong became openly involved in politics in 1966 when with Lin Biao he initiated the Cultural Revolution. On 3rd September, 1966, Lin Biao made a speech where he urged pupils in schools and colleges to criticize those party officials who had been influenced by the ideas of Nikita Khrushchev.

Liu Shaoqi resigned from all his posts on 13th October 1968, and died in 1969 in Henan.