Chen Zaidao

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Chen Zaidao (1909–1993) was a Chinese general in the People's Liberation Army noted for his military leadership of the Wuhan Mutiny in July, 1967.

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During July, two hostile groups were fighting for control over Wuhan. The Million Heroes (numbering about 500,000 people), was comprised mainly of skilled workers, state and local party employees, and was supported by the local PLA, led by its divisional commander, General Ch'en Zaidao. The Wuhan Workers' General Headquarters (numbering close to 500,000 people) was mostly comprised of worker and student Red Guard organizations.

Following the failed attempt by the Workers' Headquarters faction to seize power in the city, General Ch'en supplied the Million Heroes with arms and led a siege against the Workers' Headquarters faction. Chou En-lai ordered General Ch'en 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 Ch'en to withdraw support from the Million Heroes and instead extend it to the Workers' Headquarters. Ch'en 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, Chou En-lai flew to Wuhan, but tanks and other armour under the command of General Ch'en did not allow his plane to land. Beijing immediately responded by sending three infantry divisions, navy gunboats, and an airborne unit to face General Ch'en's forces in Wuhan. Faced with overwhelming firepower, General Ch'en 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.

By 1972, Chen Zaidao (as well as a lower-ranking participant in the Wuhan Mutiny, Lieutenant General Zhong Hanhua) were deemed 'rehabilitated,' and both were assigned to new military commands.

References:

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