Wu, Han, 1909-1969

Wu Han (Chinese: 吴晗; pinyin: Wú Hán; August 11, 1909 – October 11, 1969) was a Chinese historian and politician. Wu was one of the most important historians in the development of modern historical scholarship in China during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1940s he was a leading member of the China Democratic League, a non-aligned political organization during most of the Chinese Civil War which eventually threw its weight behind the Chinese Communist Party. After 1949, he served as the Vice Mayor of Beijing. In November 1965, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he came under attack for a play he wrote about an upright Ming dynasty official called Hai Rui Dismissed from Office, which was widely understood as an anti-Mao allegory. His political downfall also resulted in the purge of Beijing Mayor Peng Zhen. Wu died in prison in 1969.