Leading questions
Recently, I returned to my ancestral hometown of Wuxi , in Jiangsu province , to take part in activities to mark the 100th birthday of an early Communist Party leader, Qin Bangxian, also known as Bo Gu. We were not closely related, but we were from the same clan, and I was the only person who lived outside the mainland who was invited to take part.
Qin was a prominent member of the '28 Bolsheviks', a group of students who studied at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow before returning to China. With the support of the Comintern, or Communist International, Qin in 1932 - at the age of 24 - became general secretary of the Communist Party, its top leader.
Soon, conflict developed between the Soviet-educated intellectuals based in Shanghai and Mao Zedong , leader of the Red Army operating in Jiangxi province . After the Long March, the tables were turned and Mao became the undisputed leader of the party. Qin was downgraded. In 1945, at the 7th party congress, Qin remained a member of the Central Committee, but his name came last on the list of 44. The following year, he was killed in a plane crash.
Since then, there has been a question as to Qin's position within the party. Mao maintained that he was only an 'interim' party leader, but this is disputed by Qin's supporters and some party historians who feel that he should be fully rehabilitated and his position recognised.
More than 100 people arrived in Wuxi from Beijing to take part, many of whom were from families of old revolutionaries.
In addition to five children of Qin, those present included a son and daughter of former president Liu Shaoqi and a nephew of the late premier Zhou Enlai as well as relatives of other revolutionaries, such as Dong Biwu, a founder of the party.
Also present, intriguingly, was a daughter and nephew of Lin Biao, the brilliant military strategist who was killed in a plane crash in 1971, allegedly while trying to flee the country after having failed in an attempt to assassinate Mao.
The fact that so many children and grandchildren of leading revolutionaries attended reflected the networks that exist among them, built up while they were growing up in the revolutionary base of Yanan , in Shaanxi province , during the 1930s and 1940s. Despite this impressive turnout, not a word appeared in the controlled press about the two-day event, which included the unveiling of a statue of Qin as well as a theatrical performance.
The only hint in the press about these events was a report that Li Ruihuan , a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was in Wuxi and had inspected Lake Tai, which had a serious problem with algae. It was not reported that Mr Li was in Wuxi because of his wife, Qin Xinhua, a daughter of Qin. Her father had given her that name because he was head of the Xinhua News Agency at the time of her birth.
Even though Mao has been dead for more than 30 years there remain many taboo areas, especially involving people he had come into conflict with. The controversy over the role of Qin in the 1930s is something that the party still will not talk openly about today.
But there are signs of movement. A new exhibition at Beijing's Military Museum, unveiled last month, again shows Lin Biao as a military hero, one of the '10 Marshals' who founded the People's Liberation Army 80 years ago.
This does not necessarily mean that Lin, who was labelled a counter-revolutionary and traitor, is about to be rehabilitated. But it does show that, even in death, former communist leaders may rise and fall.
And if there is hope for Lin, there may be hope that Qin, too, may one day be reassessed and honoured for his contributions during the early days of the Communist Party. As the old Soviet saying goes: 'The future is certain, it is only the past that is unpredictable.'
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator
