Liu Shaoqi, << lyoh show chee >> (1900?-1969?), also spelled Liu Shao-ch’i, succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of the People’s Republic of China in 1959. Liu was also regarded as the future successor to Mao as head of the Chinese Communist Party. But during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960’s, he was accused of opposing Mao. Liu was publicly criticized and humiliated. In 1968, the Chinese Communists stripped him of all his posts and expelled him from the party. In the 1970’s, reports from China said Liu had died, but no details were given about his death. In 1980, a Chinese newspaper published a report indicating that Liu had died in prison in 1969. Also in 1980—four years after Mao’s death—China’s Communist leaders denounced the earlier criticism of Liu and held a special service to honor him.
Liu was born in Hunan Province. Before the Communists won control of China in 1949, he worked as a labor organizer and underground agent.
