Liu Shaoqi

views updated May 23 2018

Liu Shaoqi (1898–1974) Chinese statesman, chairman (1959–68) of the People's Republic of China. A leader of the trades union movement, Liu Shaoqi was the chief theorist of the early Chinese Communist Party. In 1949, he became chief vice-chairman of the party. Second-in-command to Mao Zedong from 1959, he was purged during the Cultural Revolution and died in prison.