A REAPPRAISAL OF COMRADE WU HAN'S BIOGRAPHY OF ZHU YUANZHANG

AbstractThe BIOGRAPHY OF ZHU YUANZHANG is an important work of Comrade Wu Han. Being concerned about the writing of this book, Comrade Mao Zedong not only took time from his busy schedule to read the manuscript but also spent an evening discussing it with Comrade Wu Han. He offered many solid comments and valuable suggestions with regard to such problems as the final days of Peng Yingyu, the organizer of the western division of the Red Turban Army and the like. When published in 1965, the revised edition of this work immediately received the welcome and serious attention of historical circles, but the traitor Jiang Qing was extremely hostile toward it. When the revised work was presented to Chairman Mao for his review, the traitor Jiang Qing made a daring attempt to withhold it from the Chairman, slanderously accusing Comrade Wu Han of “being covetous of fame and author's fees.” She openly declared that after its publication she would make public her criticism of the BIOGRAPHY, a work that Chairman Mao ha...