Yang Rongguo

Yang Rongguo (1907–1978) was a Chinese academic and philosopher who became notable during the Cultural Revolution for his role in the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign. He was a professor at Zhongshan University. In 1973, he published an article in the People's Daily titled "Confucius-A Thinker Who Stubbornly Upheld the Slave System." This publication, along with his earlier work on Confucius, gained him prominence. Yang began to publicly link Lin Biao, a disgraced Chinese leader, with Confucius, a figure already subjected to criticism. He extended this association to other deposed leaders like Liu Shaoqi, branding them as followers of Confucius. Confucius became a more prominent target, serving as a symbolic stand-in for Premier Zhou Enlai, who was not directly criticized by name. Yang argued that Confucius had hindered societal progress in his time, and suggested that Zhou Enlai was similarly impeding the rehabilitation of disgraced CCP leaders in 1972, such as Deng Xiaoping.