Li Weihan

In this Chinese name, the family name is Li.

Li Weihan (Chinese: 李维汉; 2 June 1896 – 11 August 1984) was a Chinese Communist Party politician from Hunan. A Long March veteran, Li led the Central Party School in Yan'an. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was the Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and led the United Front Department until 1964. As director of the UFWD, Li's view was that the CCP should accommodate and seek to raise the political consciousness of religious believers, contending that believers were generally "patriotic". In the 1960s, Li was politically targeted because of his comparatively soft line on religious policy. Politically rehabilitated in 1978, Li was later appointed to the Central Advisory Commission. Li died in 1984.

Li Weihan
李维汉
Li in 1946
Vice Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission
In office 12 September 1982 – 11 August 1984
Chairman	Deng Xiaoping
Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
In office 2 July 1979 – 17 June 1983
Chairman	Deng Xiaoping
In office 25 December 1954 – 5 January 1965
Chairperson	Zhou Enlai
Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
In office 27 September 1954 – 3 January 1965
Chairman	Liu Shaoqi Zhu De
Secretary-General of Government Administration Council
In office 19 October 1949 – 18 September 1953
Premier	Zhou Enlai
Preceded by	New title
Succeeded by	Xu Bing
Head of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 26 September 1948 – 25 December 1964
Preceded by	Zhou Enlai
Succeeded by	Xu Bing
Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 9 August 1927 – 23 September 1927
Preceded by	Zhang Guotao
Succeeded by	Luo Yinong
Member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
In office 9 August 1927 – 19 June 1928
General Secretary	Chen Duxiu
Personal details
Born	(1896-06-02)2 June 1896 Changsha County, Hunan, Qing Empire
Died	11 August 1984(1984-08-11) (aged 88) Beijing, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Spouse(s)	Cao Wenyu Jin Weiying Wu Jingzhi
Children	5, including Li Tieying
Alma mater	Hunan First Normal University
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	李维汉
Traditional Chinese	李維漢
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Wéihàn

Biography

Li was from Hunan.^[1]: 11 After pursuing his studies in France, where he worked with Deng Xiaoping,^[1]: 11 he returned to China for the first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in 1921. He studied at the Hunan Self-Study University founded by Mao Zedong.^[2] Li became a member of the 6th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927 but fell out of favour shortly afterwards in the wake of the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising in junction of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. When he sought to bring the uprising to an end, he found himself accused of cowardice. Li was eclipsed until reemerging in the early 1930s as a supporter of Li Lisan, a leading figure in the CCP at the time, and an opponent of the anti-Mao 28 Bolsheviks faction.^[3]

Li was a veteran of the Long March.^[1]: 11 Li Weihan was promoted to become the first principal of the Yan'an-based Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, the highest training center for party workers and leaders. Li served as principal from 1933 to 1935 and again from 1937 to 1938.^[4] After the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Li was involved in managing China's minorities and nationalities as Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. He was also a significant player in the CCP's drive to introduce state control of the economy (Soviet-type economic planning), and in the late-1950s Anti-Rightist Campaign, in which his own brother was purged.^[3]

Li was the director between 1944 and 1964 of the United Front Department,^[1]: 11 the predecessor to the present-day United Front Work Department. Regarding religious policy, Li's view was that there were few counterrevolutionaries among religious believers, and that the majority were "patriotic".^[1]: 11 He believed that the CCP should be patient with most religious believers and work to increase their political consciousness.^[1]: 11 Li contended that the CCP should avoid harsh stances on religion, deeming harsh measures as counterproductive and damaging to the Party's credibility.^[1]: 11

In the 1960s, Li was investigated and targeting politically, in part because of his accommodating stance regarding religious believers.^[1]: 11 He was removed from his post in 1964 and was subsequently criticised by Zhou Enlai for "capitulationism in united front work".

Ulanhu politically rehabilitated Li in spring 1978, stating that the "cap" of shame previously placed on the UFWD and those like Li was now removed.^[1]: 11 Li reemerged after 1978 as a supporter of the reformist Deng Xiaoping – who Li had saved from persecution years before – and as a critic of Mao and autocracy in the CCP, which Li referred to as "feudalism".^[3]

In 1981, Li's 1950s-1960s essays on religion were republished in The Question of the United Front and the Question of the Nationalities.^{[1]: 11–12} Li wrote:^[1]: 12

As we uphold the policy of the freedom of religious belief, domestically, we may manage to unite the majority within the various religious fields to serve socialism and to isolate those few reactionaries; internationally, it is helpful to integrate the various religious entities into an anti-imperialist united front and peace movement, thus countering any sabotage by reactionaries.

Deng promoted Li in 1982 to the post of vice chairman of the Central Advisory Commission, which Deng himself chaired. Li died in office in August 1984.^[4]

See also

• Historical Museum of French-Chinese Friendship