Jiang Qing (or Chiang Ching) (1914-1991)

Chinese communist politician, third wife of the party leader Mao Zedong. In 1960 she became minister for culture, and played a key role in the 1966-69 Cultural Revolution as the leading member of the Shanghai-based Gang of Four, who attempted to seize power in 1976. She was imprisoned in 1981.

Jiang was a Shanghai actor when in 1937 she met Mao Zedong at the communist headquarters in Yan'an; she became his wife in 1939. She emerged as a radical, egalitarian Maoist. Her influence waned during the early 1970s and her relationship with Mao became embittered. On Mao's death in September 1976, the Gang of Four, with Jiang as a leading figure, sought to seize power by organizing military coups in Shanghai and Beijing. They were arrested for treason by Mao's successor Hua Guofeng and tried 1980-81. The Gang were blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, but Jiang asserted during her trial that she had only followed Mao's orders as an obedient wife. This was rejected, and Jiang received a death sentence in January 1981, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.