Paramilitary police officers stand in front of the Great Hall of the People during the opening of China's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress, in Beijing on March 5, 2017.
Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images
Beijing made a startling announcement on Jan. 24: Zhang Youxia, a Politburo member and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), had been removed from his posts. The move sent shockwaves through Chinese politics, marking one of the year’s most dramatic developments.
History casts a long shadow over this event—seven previous CMC vice chairmen met grim fates as casualties of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) ruthless internal power struggles.
Peng Dehuai
Peng Dehuai was one of the CCP’s most talented battlefield commanders, playing a key role in the Party’s rise to power.
Wang Youqun
Author
Wang Youqun holds a doctorate in law from the Renmin University of China. He previously worked as a copywriter for Wei Jianxing (1931–2015), a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, from 1997 to 2002.
