Last member of China’s Cultural Revolution Group, Qi Benyu, dies at 85

Qi Benyu, a Communist Party theorist and propagandist who played a significant role in the Cultural Revolution, died yesterday in Shanghai at the age of 85.

Qi was the last member of the ultra-left Cultural Revolution Group (CRG), which had superseded the party’s top decision-making Politburo and Secretariat to emerge as the de facto top power organ of the country at the height of the political turmoil between 1966 and 1976.

Qi, a Shandong resident born in Shanghai in 1931, died of cancer, according to mainland media, citing one of his friends.

Toe the Communist Party’s red line on Cultural Revolution, state paper warns

Once the late leader Mao Zedong’s right-hand man for propaganda, Qi is said to have played a role that led to the purge of President Liu Shaoqi.

Until recently, Qi continued to air his ultra-left views, with radical calls to relaunch the Cultural Revolution in the country.

His demise comes amid heated debate on the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s rule as May 16 will mark its 50th anniversary.

The party’s official verdict on the Cultural Revolution is that it was a period of “internal turbulence” and “disaster”. But the leadership has long avoided holding Mao responsible and has restricted academic study and artistic work on it.