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Memory of Jiang Qing lives on after 10 years

The 10th anniversary of the death of Jiang Qing, the most powerful woman in communist China and wife of Mao Zedong, passed without official comment yesterday.

Two weeks after her death on May 14, 1991, Xinhua reported that she had committed suicide in her home.

The former actress from Shandong province was rumoured to be suffering from throat cancer. Jiang - together with Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan - made up the Gang of Four. They were widely blamed for instigating the Cultural Revolution which plunged China into decade-long political chaos and armed conflicts similar to a civil war.

Jiang's story continues to fascinate both Chinese and foreigners, some of whom view her as a feminist martyr.

A book on the Gang of Four published last year by the Modern Arts Publishing House often verges on the sympathetic.

'It was strange that she killed herself,' the book's author Ye Yonglie says. 'There was no reason for her to do so. Perhaps it was only because she knew she had no hope of being freed.'

By the time of her death, she was 77 years old and had been in Qincheng prison for 15 years. She was imprisoned in 1976, tried in 1980 and initially sentenced to death. At an unknown time, she was released and allowed to live at a closely guarded home in Beijing although her life sentence was not commuted.

Many English-language Web sites continue to defend her record and portray her as a victim. 'The capitalist media depict her as nothing but a spiteful and power-hungry woman who took advantage of the position of her husband, Mao Zedong. This crude recourse to sexist stereotyping seeks to eradicate her long revolutionary history, particularly in the field of culture,' said one Web site.

'As a woman who defied tradition's chains, she faced tremendous and added obstacles throughout her life. And she was truly an example of what it means to 'unleash the fury of women as a mighty force for revolution', declared the Revolutionary Worker Online on its Web site.

'She leaves behind a spirit and legacy that should be cherished by all people who dream of a world free from exploitation and oppression,' it said. Her 'whole life was dedicated to those on the bottom of society'.

According to the new book, Jiang was held in a large cell of 20 square metres but under 24-hour observation. She was given better food than ordinary Beijingers and not required to do physical labour. She spent her days knitting woollen sweaters and reading novels from a library of thousands of volumes, mostly fiction.

Her last public appearance came during the trial when she showed an unbowed fighting spirit, quite different from the other nine leftists held up for condemnation at the tightly orchestrated proceedings.

'She tried to be as calm as possible and kept three points in mind. The first was to show her determination as a revolutionary and to leave the people with the impression of a heroine. The second was not bow her head to revisionism. And third was to stick to the truth, not give up and be afraid of death,' Ye's book recounts.

Little is known about the recent life of her only daughter Li Na, who was editor-in-chief of the Liberation Army Daily at the age of 26.

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