View source for Yao Wenyuan

{{Short description|Chinese politician (1931–2005)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Yao (surname)|Yao]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{infobox person
| image              = Yao Wenyuan (1to1).jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1931|1|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Zhuji]], [[Zhejiang]], [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|Republic of China]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2005|12|23|1931|1|12}}
| death_place        = [[Shanghai]], [[People's Republic of China]]
| occupation         = Politician
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = [[Gang of Four]]
| notable_works      = 
| party              = [[Chinese Communist Party]]
}}
{{Chinese
| c = 姚文元
| p = Yáo Wényuán
| w = Yao<sup>2</sup> Wen<sup>2</sup>-yüan<sup>2</sup>
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|yao|2|-|wen|2|yuan|2}}
}}
{{Maoism sidebar |expanded=people}}
'''Yao Wenyuan''' (January 12, 1931 &ndash; December 23, 2005) was a Chinese literary critic, [[politician]], and member of the [[Gang of Four]] during China's [[Cultural Revolution]].

==Biography==
Yao Wenyuan was born in [[Zhuji]], [[Zhejiang]], to an intellectual family. His father, Yao Pengzi ({{lang|zh|姚蓬子}}) was a writer, translator and art critic.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/obituary/2006/01/12/yao-wenyuan|title=Yao Wenyuan|newspaper=The Economist|date=12 January 2006|language=en|access-date=2018-05-01}}</ref>

He began his career in [[Shanghai]] as a literary critic, where he became known for his sharp attacks against colleagues, such as in June 1957 against the newspaper ''[[Wenhuibao]]''. Since that time, he began to closely collaborate with leftist Shanghai politicians, including the head of the city's Propaganda Department, [[Zhang Chunqiao]]. His article "On the New Historical Beijing Opera '[[Hai Rui Dismissed from Office]]{{' "}}, published in ''Wenhuibao'' on November 10, 1965, launched the [[Cultural Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ni |first=Ching-Ching |date=2006-01-07 |title=Yao Wenyuan, 74; Last Surviving Member of China's Ignominious Gang of Four |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-07-me-yao7-story.html |access-date=2025-04-25 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

The article was about a popular opera by [[Wu Han (PRC)|Wu Han]], who was deputy mayor of [[Beijing]]. [[Zhang Chunqiao]] and [[Jiang Qing]] feared the play could be counter-revolutionary because parallels could be drawn between the characters in the play and officials in the communist government. In the play, Hai Rui, a government official, speaks for the peasants against the imperial government, criticizing officials for hypocritically oppressing the masses while pretending to be virtuous men.  Hai Rui is dismissed because of this. Yao claimed it was a coded attack on [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] for dismissing in 1959 then-minister of defense [[Peng Dehuai]], a critic of Mao's [[Great Leap Forward]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Confused by this unexpected attack, Beijing's party leadership tried to protect [[Wu Han (PRC)|Wu Han]], providing Mao the pretext for a full-scale "struggle" against them in the following year. Yao was soon promoted to the Cultural Revolution Group.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Yao Wenyuan was an ideal candidate for the criticism for such an opera because of his consistent socialist background. In April 1969 he joined the Politburo of the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]], working on official propaganda. A member of "Proletarian writers for purity" he was the editor of ''[[Jiefang Daily|Liberation Daily]]'', one of Shanghai's main newspapers. He joined the state's efforts to rid China's writers union of the famous writer [[Hu Feng]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}

On October 6, 1976, he was [[Smashing the Gang of Four|arrested]] for his participation in the Cultural Revolution and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 1981. He was released on October 5, 1996, and spent the remainder of his life writing a book and studying Chinese history. He lived in [[Huzhou]] and [[Shanghai]] and became the last surviving member of the Gang of Four after [[Zhang Chunqiao]] died in April 2005. According to China's official [[Xinhua]] news agency, he died of [[diabetes]] on December 23, 2005, aged 74.<ref>{{cite news|title=Yao Wenyuan, 74, Member of Gang of Four, Is Dead|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/obituaries/07yao.html?_r=0|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date = 7 January 2006|access-date=27 May 2013|last1 = Barboza|first1 = David}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Last surviving member of China's Gang of Four dies |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-01-06/last-surviving-member-of-chinas-gang-of-four-dies/774466 |access-date=7 February 2024 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=6 January 2006 |language=en-AU}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Publications ==
*Yao Wen-yuan: [http://www.neue-einheit.com/international/china/1975--lin-piao-clique--english.htm ''On the Social Basis Of The Lin Piao Antiparty Clique.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704190045/http://www.neue-einheit.com/international/china/1975--lin-piao-clique--english.htm |date=2008-07-04 }} Foreign Languages Press, Peking 1975.

== External links ==

* [https://www.marxists.org/archive/yao-wenyuan/index.htm The Yao Wenyuan Archive at the Marxist Internet Archive.]
{{10th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}
{{9th Politburo of the Communist Party of China}}{{Heads of the CCP Publicity Department}}{{Cultural Revolution}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yao, Wenyuan}}
[[Category:Maoist theorists]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionists]]
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Zhuji]]
[[Category:Diabetes-related deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:Gang of Four]]
[[Category:Chinese propagandists]]
[[Category:Heads of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Chinese politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Members of the 10th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Members of the 9th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Chinese Marxists]]
[[Category:Politicians from Shaoxing]]
[[Category:Writers from Shaoxing]]
[[Category:Chinese Communist Party politicians from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang]]
[[Category:Chinese Maoists]]