page_title: Huang Yongsheng
section_title: Cultural Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Huang Yongsheng / Biography / People's Republic of China / Cultural Revolution
caption_attribution_description: English: The grave of General Huang Yongsheng at the Project 131 site 中文: 黄永胜之墓，在＂１３１＂地下工程四合院 Русский: Могила генерала Хуан Юншэна, на территории "Проекта 131" у г. Сяннин, пров. Хубэй
context_page_description: Huang Yongsheng was a general of the China's People's Liberation Army. In 1955 Huang was awarded the position of Shang Jiang, and Huang continued to rise throughout the 1950s and 1960s, eventually becoming Lin Biao's Chief-of-staff during the Cultural Revolution. Because of Huang's close associations with Lin Biao, Huang was purged following Lin's death in 1971.
context_section_description: During the Cultural Revolution, Huang Yongsheng commanded the Guangzhou Military Region, and was responsible for the Guangxi Massacre and the Guangdong Massacre. It was reported much later that during the pro-communist riots in Hong Kong in 1967, he suggested invading and occupying the British colony; his plan, however, was vetoed by Zhou Enlai. As a Chief of Staff of the PLA, in 1969, he was put in charge of building the tunnel system to house the PLA command headquarters in case of nuclear war, known as Underground Project 131. The chosen site for the facility was in his home prefecture of Xianning.
  During the Cultural Revolution, Huang became an ally of China's defense minister and vice-chairman, Lin Biao, eventually serving as Lin's chief-of-staff. In the summer of 1971, immediately preceding Lin's death, Huang issued a strongly-worded statement condemning Zhou Enlai's plan to seek a closer relationship with the United States. Huang attempted to rationalize his position by stating that the United States was a declining capitalist power, and would be especially dangerous in this condition.
  Huang lost his position following Lin Biao's death. He was arrested on September 24, 1971 - two weeks after Lin Biao's alleged plot to assassinate Mao. After the arrest, even his family did not know what was happening to him, until he was put on trial in 1980 and given a prison sentence.
  Huang's involvement in the plot to assassinate Mao Zedong was implied (though not directly stated) by the confession of Li Weixin (the only one of Lin's plotters to have survived 1971). At his trial in 1980, the government of China agreed that Huang did not know anything about Lin Liguo's plans to assassinate Mao, or of Lin's flight from China.
caption: Huang Yongsheng's grave, at the Underground Project 131 site
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