The Tragedy of Lin Biao: Riding the Tiger during the Cultural Revolution (review)

568 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 Lehmann, Christian. 1982. Thoughts on Grammaticalization: A Programmatic Sketch. Arbeiten des Kölner Universalienprojekts 48. Köln: Institute für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität zu Köln. Li, Charles, and Sandra A. Thompson. 1974. "The Semantic Function of Word Order: A Case Study in Mandarin." In Charles Li, ed., Word Order and Word Order Change. Austin: University ofTexas Press. Li, Charles, Sandra A. Thompson, R. McMillan Thompson. 1982. "The Discourse Motivation for the Perfect Aspect: The Mandarin Particle Ie." In Paul Hopper, ed., Tense and Aspect. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 19-44. Liu, Xunning. 1985. Xiandai Hanyu juwei "le" de laiyuan. Fangyan 2:128-133. Mei, TsuLin. 1989. Hanyu fangyan Ii xuci "[zhe]" zi san zhongyongfa de laiyuan. Yuyanyanjiu 1:65-77. -----------. 1991. Cong Handai de "dong" "sha", "dong" "si" lai kan dongbu jiegou de fazhang, jian lun zhongguo shiqi de shishou guanxi de zhonglihua. Yuyanxue luncong16:112-136. Ohta Tatsuo. 1958. Chügoku rekishi bunpö. Tokyo: Könan Shoten. Shi, Ziqiang. 1989. The Grammaticalization ofthe particle LE in Mandarin Chinese. Language Variation and Change. 1:99-114. Sun, Chaofen. 1991. The Adposition YI and Word Order in Classical Chinese. Journal ofChinese Linguistics 16:298-322. Sun, Chaofen, and Talmy Givón. 1985. On the So-called SOV Word Order in Mandarin Chinese : A Quantified Text Study and Its Implications. Language 61:329-351. Wang Li ???. 1959· Hanyu shigao ÜH^ÍI. Beijing: Kexue Chubanshe ÌWitìJKÌct. Yue-Hashimoto, Anne. 1993. Comparative Chinese Dialectal Grammar: A Handbookfor Investigators . Collection des Cahiers de Linguistique d'Asie Orientale 1. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale. Zhang, Taiyuan. 1986. "Le" zi wanchengshi de yuyi yanbian yanjiu. M.A. Thesis, National Taiwan University. Frederick C. Teiwes and Warren Sun. The Tragedy ofLin Biao: Riding the Tiger during the Cultural Revolution. Honolulu: University ofHawai'i Press, 1996. xvi, 251 pp. Hardcover $30.00, isbn 0-8248-1811-3. The Tragedy ofLin Biao: Riding the Tiger during the Cultural Revolution by Frederick C. Teiwes and Warren Sun presents a much-needed revisionist view of© 1998 by University Lin Biao, one of the most important figures in Mao Zedong's regime, who died in ofHawai'i Pressa mysterious plane crash in Mongolia in 1971. After Lin's death, the Chinese government issued a strongly worded condemnation ofhim, including charges of treason and an attempted coup against Mao. Lin become known as a notorious Reviews 569 schemer and double-dealer, and he was posthumously tried as the head ofa "counterrevolutionary clique" that, together with Madame Mao's cohorts, was allegedly responsible for the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. Teiwes and Sun have done a fine job putting together the information that is available in order to reevaluate Lin's role in Chinese politics. Departing from the widely accepted view of Lin based on the official Chinese verdict, Teiwes and Sun offer a quite different image. They argue that Lin was "far from being excessively ambitious" (p. 7) and "never opposed Mao politically" (p. 8). Lin was instead a victim ofcircumstance, "trapped above all by the designs and whims ofMao but also the shifting current of an unpredictable political situation and the manipulation ofhis family." Through a reconstruction ofmany key political events ofthe time, such as the purges of Luo Ruiqing and Yang Chengwu, the authors come to the conclusion that perhaps "Lin's greatest sin" was "his inability to control his own household." According to this interpretation, it was Lin's wife, Ye Qun, who bears most of the responsibility for her husband's troubles. This finding is interesting and probably not far-fetched. The role of the families ofhigh officials in Chinese political life is always an intriguing subject and in need offurther study. I found myself sharing Teiwes and Sun's sympathetic view ofLin Biao as a tragic figure. The key question concerning Lin, as they point out, is not whether he was innocent ofthe official charges, or whether he fell into a trap set by Mao or became a victim ofhis wife's manipulation. By emphasizing Lin's wife's role in Lin's political career, the...