Kang Seng
China- Early Life and Education
- Communist Party and Shanghai Uprisings
- Time in Moscow and Yan'an
- Zhengfeng Campaign and Cultural Revolution
- Return to Power and Cultural Revolution
- Foreign Policy and Personal Life
- Posthumous Condemnation
- Family and Relationships
Early Life and Education
Kang Sheng was born into a family of small landowners in Shandong Province in either 1903 under the name Zhao Rong or in 1893, 1898, or 1899 under the name Zhang Zongke. In 1920, he attended preparatory courses at Tsinghua University. From 1921 to 1923, he taught at a rural school in Zhujiang, Shandong Province. In 1924, he enrolled in Shanghai University to study sociology.
Communist Party and Shanghai Uprisings
In 1925, Kang joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) and began underground activities under the pseudonyms Zhao Rong and Zhang Shaoqing. In 1927, he participated in an unsuccessful communist uprising. As a leader of a CPC cell, he took part in several uprisings in Shanghai under Zhou Enlai's guidance. Following another failed uprising that year, Kang fled Shanghai and served as the party committee secretary of Jiangsu Province for a period.
Time in Moscow and Yan'an
Sources differ on Kang's activities prior to his departure as a permanent member of the CPC delegation to the Comintern in Moscow. Some claim he was a member of the CPC Central Committee Politburo in 1931 and secretary of the CPC Central Committee from 1931 to 1933. Others maintain he studied in Moscow from 1930 until 1937, where he worked within the Comintern under Wang Ming and Chen Yun.
Upon returning to Yan'an by the late 1930s, Kang was appointed to the CPC Central Committee Secretariat in 1938. By this time, Wang Ming had fallen out of favor, and Zhang Guotao had taken his place at the Comintern. Kang aligned himself with Mao Zedong and began a campaign against Wang Ming's supporters within the party.
Zhengfeng Campaign and Cultural Revolution
Kang became close to Jiang Qing, who had recently joined the CPC. He introduced her to Mao Zedong, who soon married her. In 1942, Kang initiated the Zhengfeng campaign to purge the CPC. As its chief enforcer, his department conducted brutal interrogations and repressions. He gained significant influence over Mao during this time. However, at the campaign's conclusion in 1945, Kang took the blame for excesses and was criticized himself.
Return to Power and Cultural Revolution
During the Chinese Civil War, Kang served as secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and deputy general secretary of the CPC's East China Bureau. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Kang remained largely out of public view. In the mid-1950s, he regained control over the CPC's security apparatus through his vocal attacks on Peng Dehuai. Kang became Mao's personal agent in inner-party struggles and instigated the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1959, which later escalated into the Cultural Revolution. With Jiang Qing's support, he became a member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat in 1962 and a member of the Politburo in 1966. As an "advisor" to the Cultural Revolution group, Kang played a key role in campaigns against Peng Dehuai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Lin Biao, and numerous other CPC leaders. His influence grew as these leaders fell into disfavor and were removed from office. Kang's campaigns of political terror extended to Inner Mongolia, where members of the banned Inner Mongolian People's Party were targeted, and Yunnan Province, where thousands were murdered. He skillfully manipulated and provoked people while remaining concealed from view. Mao highly praised Kang for his success in combating the "class enemy" and for shifting the blame to others, resulting in his immense power during the Cultural Revolution.
Foreign Policy and Personal Life
In foreign policy, while the CPC leadership considered Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia as the anti-imperialist leader, Kang lobbied for the "Khmer Rouge" leader Pol Pot, who later became China's protégé in Southeast Asia. Kang reached the height of his power, becoming the fourth-most powerful figure in the country after Mao, Lin Biao, and Zhou Enlai. His final endeavor was the 1976 campaign against Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. However, Kang did not live to see the campaign's commencement and died of cancer on December 16, 1976. On his deathbed, he accused Jiang Qing of betraying the CPC, possibly foreseeing her imminent downfall and attempting to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the new authorities. Even if he had not passed away, he would have been removed from power upon the Gang of Four being exposed and Mao's death.
Posthumous Condemnation
Hu Yaobang compared Kang to Soviet security chiefs Felix Dzerzhinsky and Lavrentiy Beria. In 1980, Kang was posthumously expelled from the party, and his ashes were removed from the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, where many prominent party leaders are buried. Unlike Dzerzhinsky, who led a modest life and genuinely believed in communism, Kang lived extravagantly and indulged in luxuries. He was an accomplished painter, antique collector, and poet, particularly valuing Chinese antiques. He reportedly embezzled a large number of artifacts from the Forbidden City, making him one of the CPC's earliest millionaires during his lifetime.
Family and Relationships
Kang was married to Cao You. He had a long-term extramarital affair with his wife's sister. He allegedly had numerous mistresses, for whom he purchased apartments or built houses.
