Various outlets have noted that “traitor” Lin Biao (ÊûóÂΩ™ )–the hand-picked successor to Mao killed in an infamous plane crash in 1971 after supposedly conspiring to assassinate his benefactor–is included in a new display at the Chinese Military Museum in Beijing.
The display is called “The Ten Marshals” and depicts the men considered to have founded China’s military. From the AP:
“With objective thinking, we decided to put the picture of Lin Biao together with the other nine marshals,” Jiang Tingyu, senior researcher at the museum, was quoted as saying. “We have to show history as it was.”
Academic analysis of Lin’s military accomplishments, which include helping defeat Japanese invaders and routing Nationalist troops in China’s civil war, has been more objective since the 1980s. But his portrait has rarely been displayed with the other nine marshals since his death in 1971. The latest display, which comes as a surprise, indicates that the Communist leadership is recognizing his contributions. [Full Text]
A China Daily report on the rehabilitation is, perhaps not surprisingly, less dubious of Lin’s guilt in the alleged Mao assassination attempt:
Lin’s infamy remained even after Mao’s death in 1976. The Supreme People’s Court in 1981 determined that Lin was responsible for “counter-revolutionary” activities. He was identified as the “ringleader of the coup,” but his name is mentioned twice in middle school textbooks. [Full Text]
[Image: Propaganda poster showing Mao Zedong and Lin Biao over a caption reading: “Advance along the victorious revolutionary path of Chairman Mao!” Via Wikipedia.]
