Lin Biao

Lore & Background

Lin Biao was born into a prosperous merchant family in Huanggang, Hubei, and entered primary school in 1917. He joined a satellite organization of the Communist Youth League before graduating high school in 1925, then enrolled at Whampoa Military Academy. As a cadet, he admired Chiang Kai-shek and studied under Zhou Enlai. After graduating in 1926, he served under Ye Ting, rose quickly during the Northern Expedition, and joined the Communist Party. His arranged marriage to a woman named Ong effectively ended when he left the Kuomintang.

After the Kuomintang-Communist split, Lin participated in the Nanchang Uprising and later joined Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet in 1928. He became one of Mao's closest supporters and commanded the First Army Group, known for mobility and successful flanking maneuvers. During the Long March, he supported Mao's rise at the Zunyi Conference. Edgar Snow described Lin as shy and reserved, contrasting with Peng Dehuai, and noted Lin was never wounded in over a hundred battles.

After 1949, Lin initially withdrew from active politics but served as Vice Premier from 1954 and Vice Chairman from 1958, becoming Minister of National Defense in 1959. He helped cultivate Mao's cult of personality and was designated Mao's sole successor as the Party's only Vice Chairman from 1966 until his death. He died on 13 September 1971 when a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashed near Öndörkhaan, Mongolia, in disputed circumstances—officially after a failed coup attempt, but others contend he fled fearing purge. He was posthumously condemned as a traitor and grouped with Jiang Qing as responsible for Cultural Revolution excesses.

Reader's Guide

Lin Biao's significance lies in his dual role as a brilliant military commander and a key political figure during the Cultural Revolution. His battlefield successes, particularly commanding the First Army Group and leading campaigns that secured Communist victory, made him one of the Red Army's most effective commanders. His tactical innovations—feints, ambushes, and flank attacks—contrasted with Peng Dehuai's frontal assaults, and his forces captured twice the prisoners and equipment of other groups between 1930 and 1933. Politically, Lin's cultivation of Mao's cult of personality elevated him to the position of Mao's designated successor, but his sudden death in a plane crash under disputed circumstances—whether fleeing a failed coup or fearing purge—led to his posthumous condemnation as a traitor. The official Chinese account holds he attempted a coup; others dispute this. Since the late 1970s, he has been officially grouped with Jiang Qing as one of two principal 'counter-revolutionary' forces blamed for the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution. His legacy remains contested, reflecting the complex interplay of military achievement, political loyalty, and historical revisionism in modern China.

Did You Know?

• Lin Biao was one of the few Red commanders never wounded, despite being engaged in over a hundred battles and having a $100,000 reward on his head.
• He was ranked third among the Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China, behind Zhu De and Peng Dehuai.
• Lin Biao's First Army Group captured twice the number of prisoners of war and military equipment as the Third and Fifth Army Groups combined between 1930 and 1933.
• He died on 13 September 1971 when a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashed near Öndörkhaan, Mongolia, in circumstances that remain disputed.