Talk:Chen Yun

This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography: Politics and Government This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles This article is supported by the politics and government work group (assessed as Low-importance). China C‑class High‑importance High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

I am not an expert on Chinese history, but according to China scholar Roderick MacFarquhar, whose course I am taking at Harvard, if Chen Yun "saw political danger, he disappeared." He was not, as the stub claims, a key player throughout modern Chinese history. He was key as the Minister of Economics until the Great Leap Forward, at which time he along with Zhou Enlai suggested slower economic reform. He and Zhou were forced to self-criticize for such a suggestion. Thereafter, as Chinese politics became increasingly leftist going into the Cultural Revolution, he became increasingly scarce. He had very little to no bearing on the course of the Cultural Revolution, so perhaps it is a bit much for the article to claim that he was a key player in the span of modern Chinese history "almost to its entirety."

Professor MacFarquhar is a recognized China scholar, but his is only one of many views. Huang Jing, for example, points out that Chen had no faction to support him, and so was not a threat to Mao or other faction leaders. As for the claim that Chen Yun was one of the top five CCP leaders, that is very well supported by history. DOR (HK) (talk) 08:04, 21 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the references to this page are to someone called Huang, but no published work is listed. Do you know if Huang Jing the source for most of this page, and if so, what is the book being referred to?Lao Wai (talk) 02:21, 2 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The article says Chen's original name was Liao Chenyun, and the website cited in the article calls this his "nom de guerre." A Nationalist source gives as Chen's alternative name Liao Chengyun (廖程雲). It's not clear from the context whether this was his original name or whether it was a pseudonym Chen used during his undergound activities.

It's true that Chen lost influence around 1957, although his obituary credits him with designing the 1961-1962 retreat from the Great Leap (the "capitalist road," as the Maoists call it). His major role probably came after Mao's death. He does seem to have been instrumental in bringing about the rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping; and although he later became disenchanted with many of the consequences of reform, the original reform policies were based on his ideas, and Chen was more directly involved than Deng in designing and implementing the early reforms.

Liaochengyun 14:03, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've added an introductory paragraph about his key roles, and a couple of foot notes about his mid-century work. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:14, 14 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another wave of edits.DOR (HK) (talk) 09:08, 21 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

To claim that Chen Yun was part of the "Big Five" through the Chinese Civil War is historically incorrect. The Big Five is the original Politburo Standing Committee from After the Seventh Congress in 1945 until the Eight Congress in 1956 (when it was expanded in number.) (During this time it was called the "Secretariat" of the Politburo but its political significance was the same.) During the period from 1945-1949 (i.e. the period generally considered to be known as the Chinese Civil War), it was Ren Bishi and not Chen Yun who was the lowest-ranking member of this (five-man) group. Only AFTER the Civil War (indeed, after the end of said war and so-called "Liberation" in 1949), and ONLY following Ren's sudden death in 1950, was Chen Yun appointed to the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee (Secretariat). Thus, he was NOT part of the "Big Five" until well after the end of the Chinese Civil War. Please make a note of this for future reference. Thanks!114.162.170.83 (talk) 17:27, 26 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]