An was born in September 1909 in
Zizhou County,
Shaanxi province. In 1925, he joined the
Chinese Communist Youth League, and in 1927 was inducted into the
Chinese Communist Party. He participated in the
Second Sino-Japanese War and the
Chinese Civil War. In 1949, An was appointed as head of the Personnel Ministry, and was elected as a CPPCC Standing Committee member. He served as vice minister of the Central Organization Department, and was appointed as the
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and deputy secretary. In 1956, at the
Eighth CCP National Congress, he was elected as head of the
CCP Central Organization Department. In his role as vice minister of the Central Organization Department, An played a major role in the
Gao Gang Affair.
Gao Gang, by then a Politburo member and close associate of
Mao Zedong, shared with An Mao's consideration to divide the central leadership into a first and second line. Without direct instruction, An privately composed a list of candidates for Politburo positions. Mao obtained the list. Gao was later shown the list by Mao's secretary. Gao noted that
Bo Yibo, a close associate of his rival
Liu Shaoqi, was included on the list of candidates.
Lin Biao, a close associate of Gao, was excluded. Gao suspected that Liu had backed An in compiling the list. Liu later denied the accusation. An was criticized by Mao for compiling the list and submitted a written self-criticism. Mao warned other party members to drop the issue. In summer 1953,
Rao Shushi, the director of the Central Organization Department and An's boss, learned of the list. Rao, who did not have a good relationship with An, was seriously offended and looked to use the issue to entangle An politically. Liu Shaoqi advised Rao to drop the issue as per Mao's order, but was ignored. Later that year, Gao Gang toured southern China and met with many provincial leaders. Gao attacked Liu during many of the meetings, using the An list as a key part of his arguments. Mao was upset upon learning of Gao's attacks on Liu. Mao confronted Gao after a
Central Secretariat meeting in December 1953. Mao asked if Gao had leaked the contents of the list in conversations with other party officials. Gao denied the accusation, to Mao's dismay. In 1954, the spreading of the list and rumors associated with it was listed of Gao's "ten big crimes" by
Zhou Enlai, and was a critical justification for the purge of Rao. In particular, An focused on Dulles's statement at an October 28, 1958 press conference that peaceful evolution was "absolutely possible in a few hundred years, but perhaps just a matter of a few decades." In 1966, at the beginning of the
Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted for his close association with Liu Shaoqi as one of the
61 Renegades and expelled from his posts. In 1978 under Deng Xiaoping, he was rehabilitated and appointed as vice president of the
Central Party School, the latter co-opted to the Central Committee. On 25 June 1980, he died in
Beijing. ==Family==