During that special decade, big-character posters became a widely used tool for criticism, leaving an indelible mark on people's lives and society. So, do you know who posted the first big-character poster in the country?
She is a woman named Nie Yuanzi, who once served as deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Revolutionary Committee and other important positions. During that special period, she brutally subjected many of the Founding Fathers.
Next, let's take a look at her story.
Nie Yuanzi, a native of Huaxian County, Henan, was born in 1921. She began her career in 1959 when she was transferred to Peking University as deputy head of the Department of Economics. Six years later, she was promoted to secretary of the general party branch of the Philosophy Department.
If it weren't for the special period of the next ten years, she might have become a lifelong educator and write high-quality ** during the reform and opening up period. However, the exceptional period of that decade changed her fate and brought her to the political stage.
On May 25, 1966, Nie Yuanzi and six other teachers from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University: Song Yixiu, Xia Jianzhi, Yang Keming, Zhao Zhengyi, Gao Yunpeng and Li Xingchen, posted a big-character poster in the canteen of Peking University, and the content of this big-character poster was published in the People** with the title "The First Marxist-Leninist Big-character Poster".
The publication of this big-character poster triggered a nationwide rebellion, and it can be said that Nie Yuanzi's big-character poster pushed the ten-year special period to a climax and had a far-reaching impact in history.
After posting the country's first big-character poster, Nie Yuanzi became active, on November 19, 1966, she went to Shanghai to engage in tandem, and conspired with *** in Shanghai, and planned a series of strategies to seize the leadership of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, and put forward the strategy of "knocking down" Chang Xiping, believing that "knocking down" Chang Xiping is the key to seizing the command of Shanghai.
During the tenure of Chang Xiping, the Minister of Education and Health of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Nie Yuanzi held meetings with various rebel leaders in Shanghai, such as Wang Hongwen, and formulated a series of strategies against Chang Xiping.
These criminal activities led to the victimization of a large number of cadres of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, which gradually paralyzed the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and paved the way for Wang Hongwen and others to launch the "January Storm."
Nie Yuanzi has brutally treated the founding fathers, such as framing Peng Zhen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as a spy. On April 14, 1967, she received a handwritten letter from **, asking her to investigate Peng Zhen.
Nie Yuanzi cooperated with Xie Fuzhi and others to successfully frame Peng Zhen as a traitor and accused him of keeping in touch with Chiang Kai-shek, Yan Xishan and others. These accusations caused Peng Zhen to suffer greatly.
Nie Yuanzi once instigated *** and organized a team to criticize "The Biography of the General", framing him as a "careerist" and a "rogue general", which caused ** physical and mental damage.
Nie Yuanzi was active during this period, entering the Beijing Municipal Revolutionary Committee, serving as deputy director and becoming a senior local cadre. But his crimes were difficult to cover up, and he was examined incommunicado in 1971 and imprisoned in 1978.
In 1983, the Beijing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Nie Yuanzi to 17 years in prison. In 1984, she was released on medical parole and settled mainly in Beijing, where she was released on parole in 1986.
However, after being released on parole, Nie Yuanzi did not have a life**, so she assumed the pseudonym Wang Lan and started a business to make ends meet. Since 1999, the street has given her 600 yuan a month to help her continue living in Beijing.
In 2019, Nie Yuanzi passed away in Beijing at the age of 98.