Wuhan Incident

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Wuhan Incident In July 1967 , two hostile groups were fighting for control over Wuhan: the Million Heroes (numbering about 500,000 people), were comprised mainly of skilled workers, state and local party employees, and were supported by the local PLA, led by its divisional commander, General Chen Zaidao. The Wuhan Workers' General Headquarters (numbering close to 500,000 people) were mostly comprised of workers and students from Red Guard organizations.

Following the failed attempt by the Workers' Headquarters faction to seize power in the city, General Chen supplied the Million Heroes with arms and led a siege against the Workers' Headquarters faction. Zhou Enlai ordered General Chen to lift the siege but was disobeyed. In response to the Wuhan Mutiny, the radical intellectual Minister of Public Security Xie Fuzhi, and Wang Li, another important figure in the Cultural Revolution Group, were dispatched from Beijing to Wuhan. The two, arriving on 16 July, ordered General Chen to withdraw support from the Million Heroes and instead extend it to the Workers' Headquarters. Chen again refused, and on 20 July, forces belonging to the mutinous PLA division detained Xie Fuzhi (and badly beat him), while allowing the Million Heroes to kidnap Wang Li.

In a last attempt to resolve the crisis, Zhou Enlai flew to Wuhan, but tanks and other armour under the command of General Chen did not allow his plane to land. Beijing immediately responded by sending three infantry divisions, navy gunboats, and an airborne unit to face General Chen's forces in Wuhan. Faced with overwhelming firepower, General Chen surrendered, and Wang Li and Xie Fuzhi were released and returned to Beijing on 25 July. Approximately one thousand people are thought to have been killed in Wuhan during the July 1967 period.

[edit] References:

• Thomas W. Robinson. "The Wuhan Incident: Local Strife and Provincial Rebellion During the Cultural Revolution," The China Quarterly (1971), 47: pp. 413-18.