People’s Liberation Army

The People’s Liberation Army is presented through its uniformed cadres and the authority of a regional headquarters, not through a detailed account of its organization. Its presence helps change the outcome of a confrontation involving the Red Guards and, later, gives Rong Jinzhen’s family formal protection. The narrative links military authority to both immediate intervention and the quieter power of a written order.

Military Cadres at the Confrontation

At a university gathering, a crowd turned on a man after someone accused him of insulting the Red Guards. Two companions protected him and invoked Chairman Mao to discourage further attacks. One fired a single shot into the air, then displayed credentials and a document bearing a red letterhead and a large state seal. The men presented their intervention as a mission entrusted to them by Chairman Mao; the account does not identify them as members of the People’s Liberation Army.

A jeep with military number plates then arrived. Two men in People’s Liberation Army uniforms, identified as military cadres, spoke privately with the armed man and introduced Marshal Yang, the head of the university’s Red Guards. After their conference, Marshal Yang publicly declared Master Rong a revolutionary comrade rather than an enemy, removed her dunce’s cap and placard, and put his own Red Guard armband on her. The cadres’ role is shown through this consequential contact, although the narrative does not specify what they said or describe a formal order to Marshal Yang.

Protection Around Rong Jinzhen

When Rong Jinzhen visited his family after years away, an armed man remained close to him and controlled what could be discussed. The man pressed him to leave, searched the house, and refused his request to visit his father’s tomb. Two jeeps, carrying seven or eight men in a mixture of military uniforms and plain clothes, stood outside while Rong Jinzhen stayed overnight. These details establish the guarded conditions of the visit, but do not establish that the armed man or the accompanying party belonged to the People’s Liberation Army.

Three days after Rong Jinzhen left, a representative of his work unit delivered a document issued by the PLA Military Region headquarters and the Provincial Revolutionary Committee. It stated that the Central Politburo, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission had recognized Rong Jinzhen as a Hero of the Revolution, and that his family would consequently be treated as a revolutionary family. The order barred work units, Party members, and private individuals from entering their home without permission or casting aspersions on the family’s revolutionary credentials. A local Military Region commander added a handwritten warning that anyone who disobeyed would be treated as a counter-revolutionary and punished.

The Order’s Consequences

The family treasured the document, which they credited with ending further trouble. Its protection had practical effects beyond the household: Rong Jinzhen’s brother was able to return to University N from Shanghai and later obtain permission to go abroad to continue his superconductivity research. The episode does not explain what work had earned Rong Jinzhen this influence; a later rumor connected him to the nuclear weapons program, but the family had no confirmation. The People’s Liberation Army’s significance here lies in the authority attached to its regional headquarters: an official designation and an explicit threat of punishment could reverse the family’s vulnerability and secure room for ordinary life.