Mao Tse-tung’s Widow Called Suicide Victim
NEW YORK — Jiang Qing, widow of China’s Chairman Mao Tse-tung and ringleader of the infamous Gang of Four, reportedly committed suicide last month in the suburban Beijing villa where she had been under house arrest for 10 years, Time magazine reported Monday.
The magazine said that Jiang, 77, a well-known actress before marrying Mao in the late 1930s, was known to have throat cancer and may have wished to shorten her suffering.
In Beijing, an official at the Ministry of Justice declined to confirm or deny the report. “We are checking the facts,” he said.
Jiang was convicted with three associates in 1981 of instigating and helping to carry out the Cultural Revolution that brought China to the brink of chaos from 1966 to 1976.
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