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'''Lin Biao''' (1907-1971) was a [[Chinese]] [[Communist]] military commander and senior political leader who was killed in an air crash in an attempt to defect from China to the [[Soviet Union]].

'''Lin Biao''' (old style: Lin Piao) (1907-1971) was a [[Chinese]] [[Communist]] military commander and senior political leader who was killed in an air crash in an attempt to defect from China to the [[Soviet Union]].

Lin joined the [[Chinese Communits Party in 1927, took part in the [[Long March]] of 1934-35, and had played a major role in the communist victory in the [[Chinese Civil War]]. In 1959, following the disgrace and dismissal of [[Peng Dehuai]], he was made Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the [[People's Liberation Army]]. He was responsible in the 1960s for the publication of the '[[Little Red Book]]' ('Quotations from Chairman Mao Zeddong'), and when the [[Cultural Revolution]] began in 1966 was a firm supporter of [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Jiang Qing]].

Lin joined the [[Chinese Communits Party in 1927, took part in the [[Long March]] of 1934-35, and had played a major role in the communist victory in the [[Chinese Civil War]]. In 1959, following the disgrace and dismissal of [[Peng Dehuai]], he was made Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the [[People's Liberation Army]]. He was responsible in the 1960s for the publication of the '[[Little Red Book]]' ('Quotations from Chairman Mao Zeddong'), and when the [[Cultural Revolution]] began in 1966 was a firm supporter of [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Jiang Qing]].

The official Chinese version of events is that Lin and his son had been plotting a [[coup d'etat]] against Mao called 'Plan 571' (in Chinese, the numbers 571 are spoken wu-qi-yi, which can also mean 'armed uprising'); and it was alleged that air force aircraft had mounted an unsuccessful attack against Mao's personal train. Lin's daughter, Lin Doudou, revealed the plot to prime minister [[Zhou Enlai]], whereupon the plotters fled.

The official Chinese version of events is that Lin and his son had been plotting a [[coup d'etat]] against Mao called 'Plan 571' (in Chinese, the numbers 571 are spoken wu-qi-yi, which can also mean 'armed uprising'); and it was alleged that air force aircraft had mounted an unsuccessful attack against Mao's personal train. Lin's daughter, Lin Doudou, revealed the plot to prime minister [[Zhou Enlai]], whereupon the plotters fled.

More recently, a history by Australian academics Frederick Tewes and Warren Sun has posited an alternative explanation, which is that the plot never existed and that Lin fled because he was afraid of being purged and imprisoned by the increasingly capricuious Mao, and that he would not survive the prison conditions meted out to victims of the Cultural Revolution (indeed, the former Chinese head of state Liu Shaoqi had died in prison as a result of ill treatment and medical neglect). Tewes and Sun draw attention to a recent thaw in Chinese portrayals of Lin: from being an 'un-person' he is now the subject of sympathetic biographies and memoirs, and his image was included in a series of postage stamps commemorating Marshals of the People's Liberation Army.

More recently, a history by Australian academics Frederick Tewes and Warren Sun has convincingly argued an alternative explanation, which is that 'Plan 571' never existed and that Lin fled because he was afraid of being purged and imprisoned by the increasingly capricious and paranoid Mao, and that he would not survive the prison conditions meted out to victims of the Cultural Revolution (indeed, the former Chinese head of state Liu Shaoqi had died in prison as a result of ill treatment and medical neglect). Teiwes and Sun draw attention to a recent thaw in Chinese portrayals of Lin: from being an 'un-person' he is now the subject of sympathetic biographies and memoirs, and his image was even included in a series of postage stamps commemorating Marshals of the People's Liberation Army.

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