Kuai Dafu
Kuai Dafu | |
|---|---|
| 蒯大富 | |
| Born | September 13, 1945 |
| Occupation(s) | Student, businessman |
| Known for | Leading the Red Guards at Tsinghua University |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Movement | Cultural Revolution |
Kuai Dafu (Chinese: 蒯大富, born 13 September 1945) is a Chinese former Red Guard who played a key role as a student leader in the earliest stages of the Cultural Revolution.
Biography
Cultural Revolution
Active from 1966 onwards, Kuai led the Jinggangshan ("Headquarters") faction of the Red Guards at Tsinghua University, where he pursued a degree in chemical engineering.[1]: 66 This group wanted to maintain the independence of the Red Guards from the central government. Kuai, alongside Han Aijing and other student leaders, virulently resisted the "work teams" which Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping had sent to the campuses to restore order and suppress or co-opt the student movement.[2] Liu's wife Wang Guangmei participated in the work teams and personally clashed with Kuai in July 1966. However, Mao subsequently voiced support to Kuai and "made him a vanguard of the Cultural Revolution famous throughout the country."[3]
On April 10, 1967, the Jinggangshan – now supported by the central authorities and the People's Liberation Army – organised an on-campus struggle session where more than 300 alleged "revisionists" (including Wang Guangmei) were publicly humiliated.[1]: 124 On July 27, 1968, a work team arriving at Tsinghua University was fought off with shots and stones on orders of Kuai, killing five members and injuring many more. The next day, Kuai and other student leaders including Nie Yuanzi were harshly reprimanded for their behaviour by Mao Zedong in the Great Hall of the People. When Kuai complained that a "black hand" was trying to suppress the student movement, Mao mockingly replied that he himself was this "black hand".[2][1]: 249–251
According to Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals, the clash between Kuai and Wang Guangmei "was eventually to become part of Red Guard lore and to be immortalized in novels and on the stage, even in the West".[1]: 66
Imprisonment and later life
In 1970, after falling out of grace with Jiang Qing, Kuai was imprisoned alongside Han Aijing. He was tried and convicted to a seventeen-year prison sentence in 1983.[1]: 469 Kuai and Han went on to share a prison cell with activist Wei Jingsheng.[4]
Similarly to other student leaders from the Cultural Revolution, Kuai was pressured by the post-Mao governments of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao to remain discrete about their past as Red Guards and "not to say anything that is ‘sensitive’".[5] He reportedly pursued a business career in Shenzhen.[1]: 469
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f MacFarquhar, Roderick; Schoenhals, Michael (2008). Mao's Last Revolution. Cambridge: Belknap Press. ISBN 9780674023321.
- ^ a b Russo, Alessandro (2020). Cultural Revolution and Revolutionary Culture. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 209–224. ISBN 9781478008590.
- ^ Wang, Youqin (2023). Victims of the Cultural Revolution: Testimonies of China's Tragedy. London: Oneworld Publications. p. 361.
- ^ Holzman, Marie (17 February 1994). "Chine: la longue marche de Wei". L'Express. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Gao, Mobo (2008). The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London: Pluto Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780745327815.