, the
lieutenant general of the
People's Liberation Army who was in charge of the purge. In March 1967,
Zhao Jianmin, then provincial secretary of the Communist Party in Yunnan, suggested to
Kang Sheng in person that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should resolve the issues of Cultural Revolution in a democratic manner, but receiving no immediate response from the latter. In August 1967, Mao Zedong as well as the Central Committee of CCP approved that the national and local media may publicly criticize "
capitalist roaders" among the top provincial officials in China. A total of 55 high-ranking officials were criticized, including Zhao Jianmin. In 1968, Zhao Jianmin was branded by Kang Sheng and his allies as "a spy of
Kuomintang (KMT)" as well as "traitor", and was regarded as one of the "local proxies" of
Liu Shaoqi, the
2nd President of China who was persecuted to death in 1969 as a "traitor" and "capitalist roader". Zhao was subsequenrly imprisoned for 8 years. At the same time, a massive search and purge of members of the fabricated "Zhao Jianmin KMT Spy Agency in Yunnan" was carried out, resulting in the arrest and persecution of more than 1.38 million civilians and officials.
Tan Furen, a
lieutenant general in the
People's Liberation Army, was appointed by Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of CCP to take charge of the purge. == Aftermath ==