Born1916
Died5 August 1966
Cause of deathMurdered by Red Guards during the Cultural RevolutionOccupation(s)Party secretary, vice principalEmployerExperimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University^[a]Political partyChinese Communist PartySpouseWang Jingyao

Bian Zhongyun (Chinese: 卞仲耘; 1916 – 5 August 1966) was a deputy principal at the Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, in Beijing, China. She was attracted to the Chinese Communist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War and joined the party in 1941, and before working for the high school in Beijing, she worked as an editor for the People's Daily then located in rural Hebei.^[1]

Cultural revolution

She became the first victim of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in the early days of Beijing's "Red August", where she was beaten to death with wooden sticks by a group of students, led by local student Red Guard leader Song Binbin.^[2] Prior to her death, Bian had been the party leader at the school. In March 1966, after an earthquake near Beijing, the school told students that they should run out of the classroom as soon as possible if another earthquake occurred. Some students asked Bian if they should carry the portrait of Mao in their classrooms. She did not answer the question directly, only repeated that they should run out of the classroom as soon as possible, and was therefore accused of opposing Chairman Mao.^[3][4] Later, she was further denounced as a "counter-revolutionary revisionist" by Song's group of Red Guards.^[5]

Death

Bian's husband, Wang Jingyao, has stated that he was informed by anonymous witnesses that the female students who delivered the final blow did not include Song Binbin, even though Song was the nominal leader of the group. Song has also stated that although she was one of the leading Red Guards in the school during the unrest, she did not participate in the killing of Bian Zhongyun. For several decades, witnesses, including Wang and Song, refused to openly name the students who were involved in the killing as they were politically connected individuals. In 2005, the daughter of Zhang Bojun, a prominent victim of the Cultural Revolution, wrote a book in which she finally named Deng Rong, the youngest daughter of Deng Xiaoping, as one of the perpetrators. In 2012, on his deathbed, Wang Jingyao finally confirmed that the students who delivered the final blow to his wife on 5 August 1966 included Liu Pingping, a daughter of Liu Shaoqi. Ironically, the Deng and Liu families would both become persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

Professor Wang Youqin, former Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University student, was among the first scholars to study the Red August of Beijing, the origin of the "Red Terror" of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, during which students attacked and even killed their teachers.^[6][7][8] This included the murder of Bian Zhongyun.

Legacy

A documentary about her, Though I Am Gone, was released in 2006. It claims that Song, a student leader involved in the Red Guards in the school, was sent to the United States to study on government sponsorship and invited back to Beijing Normal University as a prominent alumna. Song's father, Song Renqiong was the mayor of Beijing and a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party, thereby immunising her from any responsibility (direct or indirect) for Bian's death.

See also

• Red Terror
• Wang Youqin

Notes

References