Xi Jinping Further Validates the Cultural Revolution: Ashes of Key Culprit in Cannibalism Granted Burial at Babaoshan

Tibet During the Cultural Revolution. (Image from the internet)

[People News] During China’s Cultural Revolution, the Guangxi region witnessed horrific massacres and incidents of cannibalism, with then-leader Wei Guoqing identified as the primary instigator of these atrocities. However, the CCP absolved Wei of responsibility due to his “outstanding contributions.” Now, 35 years after his death, the authorities have permitted his ashes to be permanently buried at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Commentators believe this decision highlights the similarities between Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong in their dictatorial nature.

According to Radio Free Asia, a ceremony was held Thursday morning (the 24th) at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery for Wei Guoqing, former chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and a figure known as a “founding general.” Wei’s ashes were transferred from the Babaoshan columbarium to be interred in the revolutionary cemetery.

Wei’s widow, Xu Qiqian, his son, Wei Xiaoyi, along with other relatives, senior figures from the Central Military Commission’s administration, and several “red descendants” participated in the ceremony. Notable attendees included Huang Nan (daughter of Huang Kecheng), Chen Zhishu (son of Chen Geng), Geng Zhiyuan (son of Geng Biao), Deng Xiaolian and Deng Jiansheng (children of Deng Zihui), Zhu Yan (granddaughter-in-law of Zhu De), and Peng Jing (great-nephew of Peng Dehuai), among dozens of others.

Wei Guoqing’s Role in the Cultural Revolution

During the ceremony, official representatives and Wei Xiaoyi recounted Wei Guoqing’s life and achievements. Wei Xiaoyi highlighted his father’s dedication to Guangxi’s development over two decades, adding, “We may have had shortcomings, but we have always worked hard.”

The news quickly sparked attention on social media, with netizens pointing out Wei Guoqing’s role as Guangxi’s main leader during the Cultural Revolution, a period when Guangxi saw extreme violence, including massacres and cannibalism. Some criticized Wei Xiaoyi’s remarks as evidence of a lack of remorse from Wei’s family for their role in the Cultural Revolution.

Xiaoming, author of The Painful History of the Cultural Revolution in Guangxi, published by Hong Kong’s New Century Press, directly attributed the Guangxi massacre and subsequent cannibalism to Wei Guoqing’s actions.

Professor Feng Chongyi: Wei Guoqing’s Contentious Legacy in the CCP

Feng Chongyi, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney, told the station that Wei’s atrocities have been discussed within the CCP. Yet, as a revolutionary elder, Wei was spared during the CCP’s post-Cultural Revolution clean-up of the “Three Kinds of People.” The CCP has since downplayed this period of history, but in the Xi Jinping era, posthumous honors like this one suggest Xi shares Mao’s authoritarian tendencies.

Feng stated, “In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of Wei Guoqing’s actions were exposed and reported within the Party. However, because he joined the revolution before 1949, he was not classified as one of the ‘Three Kinds of People’ to be purged, though he was sidelined. Now Xi Jinping is allowing him back into Babaoshan, recognizing a Cultural Revolution-era persecutor. This reflects Xi’s own authoritarian backslide and hints at a political state mirroring Mao’s. From one perspective, it’s clear that Xi is a dictator in the mold of Mao.”

Feng also pointed out that neither Wei Guoqing’s descendants nor other “red descendants” have shown any reflection on the atrocities their elders committed during the Cultural Revolution.

Feng added, “Wei Guoqing was a blood-soaked executioner, yet his family displays no remorse, guilt, or desire to atone—an ethically impoverished group.”

Scholars: Xi Jinping Has Reversed China Back to the Cultural Revolution Era

Yang Haiying, a professor at Shizuoka University in Japan and author of The Grassland Without Tombstones, documenting another Cultural Revolution tragedy in Inner Mongolia, stated that by burying Cultural Revolution executioners at Babaoshan, the CCP shows it has never truly condemned the Cultural Revolution. Yang emphasized that under Xi Jinping, China has returned to the Cultural Revolution era.

Yang commented, “Wei Guoqing’s subordinates in Guangxi engaged in cannibalism and killings, yet he is being laid to rest at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. The Chinese Communist Party has never truly repudiated the Cultural Revolution. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee only paid lip service to criticism. The Cultural Revolution was never condemned; it merely paused. Xi Jinping has now reignited it. We are currently living in another Cultural Revolution.”

Yang noted that Teng Haiqing, a former commander in Inner Mongolia responsible for massacres there, also escaped accountability due to his “revolutionary contributions.” Despite demands from Mongolians for justice, Teng was promoted and awarded honors, with his ashes later interred in Anhui. Yang argued that as a violent organization, the CCP would never hold perpetrators within its ranks accountable.

Yang added, “Teng Haiqing, responsible for massacres in Inner Mongolia, has his ashes interred in Anhui. When Mongolians demanded his punishment, then-Chief Procurator Huang Huoqing said, ‘In consideration of his lifetime revolutionary contributions, let’s not investigate his past.’ Can the massacre of thousands of Mongolians be dismissed so easily? The CCP is a violent organization, and its so-called ‘revolution’ is rooted in violence, rewarding its violent generals.”

Wei Guoqing, born in September 1913 in Donglan County, Guangxi, joined the CCP early on and participated in the Long March. In 1955, Wei was awarded the rank of General.

In March 1958, Wei was appointed Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Government. During the Cultural Revolution, he served as Chairman of Guangxi’s Revolutionary Committee. From autumn 1967 to spring 1968, Guangxi witnessed brutal massacres, primarily targeting individuals from the “Four Types” and their families, as well as those supporting factions opposing Wei Guoqing. These massacres indirectly led to widespread cannibalism in Guangxi, even in non-famine conditions.

After the Cultural Revolution, the perpetrators of the Guangxi massacre and cannibalism faced some punishment, but Wei Guoqing, the main organizer, was instead promoted to a higher position.

Wei Guoqing passed away on June 14, 1989, and his ashes had been stored in the Babaoshan columbarium until now.