Gao Gang
Unlike the 1951 Zhen Fan campaign (1950-52), which principally targeted those as threats from outside the state system such as former Kuomintang officials and supporters, the Sufan campaign widened to purge those within the party, military and state agencies who Mao's circle saw as threats. Several top Party officials, notably the technocrats Gao Gang and Rao Shushi, were purged in the early stages of the campaign. Many other Party members and government officials were arrested on vague suspicions of counterrevolutionary activity and were made to 'confess' their political views. The Public Security Bureaus of the Ministry of Public Security were a particular target, as the communist leadership sought to ensure that China's security forces were under tight Party control.