Wu Te-feng

1910

China

In the spring of 1927 all CCP ties with Chiang Kai-shek’s right-KMT were severed, and by the middle of the year the Communists’ uneasy alliance with the left-KMT was shattered. Driven underground, the CCP immediately began to plan a series of peasant uprisings in central China the famous Autumn Harvest Uprisings, which began in early September 1927. In his capacity as secretary of the Party’s South Hupeh Special Committee, Wu took part in the planning for an attack on Hsien-ning (due south of Wuhan), although he took the position that the attack should be abandoned because of the “panicky” state of the peasantry in that area. Nonetheless, attacks were made on communication facilities near Hsien-ning. Then, in the face of superior military force, the attack on Hsien- ning was abandoned and the Special Committee (and presumably Wu) fled southward to an area near the Kiangsi border. Wu’s whereabouts over the ensuing months are not known, but by 1928 he had made his way to the Communist base in Kiangsi. From his arrival there until the Long March of the mid-1930's, he apparently divided his time between Kiangsi, Hunan, and Shanghai; he was engaged in intelligence and security work, thus setting the pattern for his career over the next 35 years. In 1932-33 he was serving as head of the Party’s Political Security Bureau for Kiangsi and then in 1933 became director of the Political Security Bureau for the Sixth Red Army. In January-February 1934, at the Second AllChina Congress of Soviets in Juichin, the capital of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Wu was elected a member of the Republic Central Executive Committee. He was possibly elected in absentia, because the Sixth Red Army to which he was attached was then maneuvering along the Hunan-Kiangsi border. In any event, the Chinese Soviet Republic came to an undeclared end in the latter part of 1934 when the central base was abandoned and the Red Army embarked on the Long March. Wu began the March as head of the Political Security Bureau of the Sixth Red Army, continuing in this position when this army was absorbed by the Second Front Army (headed by Ho Lung) during the long trek to the northwest. From his arrival in Shensi in 1936 until the close of the Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Wu’s activities are shrouded in secrecy and therefore only a bare outline of his work can be constructed. He was known to have worked in Sian, the Shensi capital, in about 1936 serving as head of the Communist special services" in that city. In the mid-1930’s Sian was a city steeped in intrigue with the actors including the pro-Chiang Kai-shek forces, those favoring dissident generals (notably Chang Hsueh-liang and Yang Hu-ch'eng), and, of course, the Communists. In addition to his work in Sian, Wu was also known to have been (in the period just prior to the outbreak of the war) a member of the Party’s Social Affairs Department and the founder (probably in Yenan) of an intelligence school. The Social Affairs Department was the Communist euphemism of that period for the intelligence section of the Party. When the war broke out against the Japanese in mid-1937, the Communists organized their military forces in the Yenan area into three divisions, one of them the 120th Division led by Ho Lung. Wu joined this division at some point during the war, presumably serving as an intelligence or political officer. However, there are no facts available about his career until the end of the war when he was working in Jehol and Liaoning, once again in intelligence; specifically, he was the director of Communist intelligence activities in this area a crucial sector because it was the gateway to Manchuria. At about this same time Wu had another assignment closely related to intelligence as director of the Organization Department of the Jehol Party Committee. Once again the record fades on Wu until the Communists conquered the mainland in 1949, in the interim it seems safe to conclude that he was in intelligence or security work, probably in north China or Manchuria. Wu apparently accompanied the Red armies south, because when the capital of his native Hupeh was captured in May 1949 he was appointed mayor of Wuhan and a member of the Wuhan Military Control Commission. In July 1950 he was named as chairman of the Wuhan Finance and Economics Committee, but just two months later Chang P’ing-hua replaced him as chairman, with Wu remaining on the committee as a vice-chairman. Within the Party structure for Wuhan he was a first deputy secretary by 1950 and the secretary of the Party Committee within the Wuhan government. In the interim, over the winter of 1949-50, the multi-provincial governmental unit which included Hupeh was formed under the name of the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee (CSMAC), in December 1949 Wu was named as one of the members. Although Wu's career seemed finished in early 1952, he was restored to political favor with surprising quickness. In September 1952, less than seven months after his demotions, he was named as secretary-general of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee, retaining this position when the CSMAC was reorganized into the Central-South Administrative Committee in January 1953. He remained in central-south China until the inauguration of the constitutional government in September 1954, at which time he was permanently transferred to Peking. By 1953 the period of "reconstruction” of Communist China had ended, this was true in the legal field as well as many others. It was in this year, for example, that the first major steps were taken toward the drafting of a constitution and the preparations for elections which were to be held in 1954. Within the fields of political science and law, the formalization of these professions and studies was given organizational expression in April 1953 with the founding of the Political Science and Law Association of China (PSLAC). WuJs position within the PSLAC was relatively modest to judge by the elections of the inaugural congress of April 1953, he was elected only as a member of the council. However, at the subsequent three congresses (March 1956, August 1958, and October 1964), Wu rose to the top position within this organization. At the March 1956 congress he was named a vice-chairman and concurrently secretary-general. Because the aging Tung Pi-wu was the chairman during those years (and also because Tung, as a Politburo member, was probably more concerned with policy matters at a higher level), the fact that Wu was secretary-general strongly suggests that by 1956 he was the de facto head of the organization. The PSLAC was structurally changed at the third congress in August 1958, Wu was once again named as a vice-chairman, but instead of continuing as the secretary-general (now defunct), he became the first secretary of the newly formed Secretariat. Finally, at the October 1964 congress, Wu replaced Tung Pi-wu as chairman (Tung being made an honorary chairman) and continued as first secretary. As a major figure in the field of public administration and law, Wu was a natural candidate for a major role in the NPC from its formation in 1954. He served on the First NPC (1954-1959) as a deputy from his native Hupeh but then was elected from Shantung to the Second NPC (19591964) and to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.

Wu Te-feng

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CCP member politicial leader

Background

Little is known about his background.

Education

He graduated from both the First Hupeh Provincial Normal School and the Wuchang Higher Normal College and then taught at a middle school for a brief time.

Career

In the spring of 1927 all CCP ties with Chiang Kai-shek’s right-KMT were severed, and by the middle of the year the Communists’ uneasy alliance with the left-KMT was shattered. Driven underground, the CCP immediately began to plan a series of peasant uprisings in central China the famous Autumn Harvest Uprisings, which began in early September 1927. In his capacity as secretary of the Party’s South Hupeh Special Committee, Wu took part in the planning for an attack on Hsien-ning (due south of Wuhan), although he took the position that the attack should be abandoned because of the “panicky” state of the peasantry in that area. Nonetheless, attacks were made on communication facilities near Hsien-ning. Then, in the face of superior military force, the attack on Hsien- ning was abandoned and the Special Committee (and presumably Wu) fled southward to an area near the Kiangsi border.

Wu’s whereabouts over the ensuing months are not known, but by 1928 he had made his way to the Communist base in Kiangsi. From his arrival there until the Long March of the mid-1930's, he apparently divided his time between Kiangsi, Hunan, and Shanghai; he was engaged in intelligence and security work, thus setting the pattern for his career over the next 35 years. In 1932-33 he was serving as head of the Party’s Political Security Bureau for Kiangsi and then in 1933 became director of the Political Security Bureau for the Sixth Red Army. In January-February 1934, at the Second AllChina Congress of Soviets in Juichin, the capital of the Chinese Soviet Republic, Wu was elected a member of the Republic Central Executive Committee. He was possibly elected in absentia, because the Sixth Red Army to which he was attached was then maneuvering along the Hunan-Kiangsi border. In any event, the Chinese Soviet Republic came to an undeclared end in the latter part of 1934 when the central base was abandoned and the Red Army embarked on the Long March. Wu began the March as head of the Political Security Bureau of the Sixth Red Army, continuing in this position when this army was absorbed by the Second Front Army (headed by Ho Lung) during the long trek to the northwest.

From his arrival in Shensi in 1936 until the close of the Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Wu’s activities are shrouded in secrecy and therefore only a bare outline of his work can be constructed. He was known to have worked in Sian, the Shensi capital, in about 1936 serving as head of the Communist special services" in that city. In the mid-1930’s Sian was a city steeped in intrigue with the actors including the pro-Chiang Kai-shek forces, those favoring dissident generals (notably Chang Hsueh-liang and Yang Hu-ch'eng), and, of course, the Communists. In addition to his work in Sian, Wu was also known to have been (in the period just prior to the outbreak of the war) a member of the Party’s Social Affairs Department and the founder (probably in Yenan) of an intelligence school. The Social Affairs Department was the Communist euphemism of that period for the intelligence section of the Party.

When the war broke out against the Japanese in mid-1937, the Communists organized their military forces in the Yenan area into three divisions, one of them the 120th Division led by Ho Lung. Wu joined this division at some point during the war, presumably serving as an intelligence or political officer. However, there are no facts available about his career until the end of the war when he was working in Jehol and Liaoning, once again in intelligence; specifically, he was the director of Communist intelligence activities in this area a crucial sector because it was the gateway to Manchuria. At about this same time Wu had another assignment closely related to intelligence as director of the Organization Department of the Jehol Party Committee. Once again the record fades on Wu until the Communists conquered the mainland in 1949, in the interim it seems safe to conclude that he was in intelligence or security work, probably in north China or Manchuria.

Wu apparently accompanied the Red armies south, because when the capital of his native Hupeh was captured in May 1949 he was appointed mayor of Wuhan and a member of the Wuhan Military Control Commission. In July 1950 he was named as chairman of the Wuhan Finance and Economics Committee, but just two months later Chang P’ing-hua replaced him as chairman, with Wu remaining on the committee as a vice-chairman. Within the Party structure for Wuhan he was a first deputy secretary by 1950 and the secretary of the Party Committee within the Wuhan government. In the interim, over the winter of 1949-50, the multi-provincial governmental unit which included Hupeh was formed under the name of the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee (CSMAC), in December 1949 Wu was named as one of the members.

Although Wu's career seemed finished in early 1952, he was restored to political favor with surprising quickness. In September 1952, less than seven months after his demotions, he was named as secretary-general of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Central-South Military and Administrative Committee, retaining this position when the CSMAC was reorganized into the Central-South Administrative Committee in January 1953. He remained in central-south China until the inauguration of the constitutional government in September 1954, at which time he was permanently transferred to Peking.

By 1953 the period of "reconstruction” of Communist China had ended, this was true in the legal field as well as many others. It was in this year, for example, that the first major steps were taken toward the drafting of a constitution and the preparations for elections which were to be held in 1954. Within the fields of political science and law, the formalization of these professions and studies was given organizational expression in April 1953 with the founding of the Political Science and Law Association of China (PSLAC). WuJs position within the PSLAC was relatively modest to judge by the elections of the inaugural congress of April 1953, he was elected only as a member of the council. However, at the subsequent three congresses (March 1956, August 1958, and October 1964), Wu rose to the top position within this organization. At the March 1956 congress he was named a vice-chairman and concurrently secretary-general. Because the aging Tung Pi-wu was the chairman during those years (and also because Tung, as a Politburo member, was probably more concerned with policy matters at a higher level), the fact that Wu was secretary-general strongly suggests that by 1956 he was the de facto head of the organization. The PSLAC was structurally changed at the third congress in August 1958, Wu was once again named as a vice-chairman, but instead of continuing as the secretary-general (now defunct), he became the first secretary of the newly formed Secretariat. Finally, at the October 1964 congress, Wu replaced Tung Pi-wu as chairman (Tung being made an honorary chairman) and continued as first secretary.

As a major figure in the field of public administration and law, Wu was a natural candidate for a major role in the NPC from its formation in 1954. He served on the First NPC (1954-1959) as a deputy from his native Hupeh but then was elected from Shantung to the Second NPC (19591964) and to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.

Politics

Sometime in the mid-1920’s, Wu joined the CCP, and like so many Communists of that period he also joined the KMT, serving in about 1926-27 as an Executive Committee member of the KMT Hupeh Provincial Headquarters. Concurrently, he was a member of the Wuhan Municipal Government Council, then dominated by the left-KMT, which was headquartered in that city. In 1927 he established and was principal of the Chung Shih Middle School in Hankow, and in the same year he also founded in Hankow a Communist newspaper called Ch'iin-chung pao (Masses daily).

Membership

From May 1957 until November 1958 Wu served as a member of the State Council's Scientific Planning Commission. However, there is no indication that he played a significant role in this organization, probably because this period coincided almost exactly with the “rectification” movement, during which the legal field came under severe attack.

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Wu Te-feng

Background

Education

Career

Politics

Membership

Born

Nationality

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Political Party

Career

1932 - 1933

1933

1933

1949

1954 - 1959