Talk:Bo Yibo

Chinese age

From the article:

Bo died of old age at almost 99 in a Beijing hospital in mid January 2007.

The Chinese reckon a person's age differently than Westerners. Instead of computing the difference between someone's birth and death, they count the number of calendar years that someone has been alive. (This is similar to the way the Hebrews counted the reign of kings, wherein a reign lasted "one year" even if he was only in power for one month of that year.) They also consider a person already one year old when they are born. So by Chinese reckoning, Bo would be considered as having died at the age of 100. — Loadmaster 16:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

But when exactly was he born then? Extremely sexy 16:55, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually this is more likely, because it is considered much more auspicious to say "ninety-nine" than "ninety-eight". If there is only a 10-day difference anyways, then the media might as well just say 99. Usually, when the Chinese media reports deaths, it is the person's (wstern-style) age that applies. Colipon+(T) 04:22, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining this. Extremely sexy 12:38, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Critique moved from comments subpage

The article is inaccurate in several aspects. First, it ignores Bo Yibo's undercover activities in the Guomindang areas before the Anti-Japanese war; during these activities he was arrested in 1931, and released in 1936 after "confessing" his crimes. This confession was done with the Party's approval; but it was considered Bo's crime during the Cultural Revolution (the so-called "61 renegades" affair).

Second, Yan Xishan never joined the Red Army; actually, he remained vehemently anti-Communist, even during the anti-Japanese war, and his cooperation with the Communist guerillas in Shanxi was short-lived. A propos, by 1937 the name "Red Army" was no longer employed by the Communist troops.

Third, the article makes a mess of Bo's post-1949 activities. He was indeed a supporter of lenient treatment of national bourgeoisie, but it is incorrect to call him an "advocate of freedom of trade with Western countries".

Fourth, he was rehabilitated in 1978 or 1979, so he spent no more than 13 years under arrest (but I do not know where he actually did stay at that particular time).

For his post-1949 activities, see briefly in R. MacFarquhar, ed., "The Politics of China," 1949-1989; see also an account of his trial in Shoenhals, "Cultural Revolution: Not a Diner Party". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.139.226.37 (talk • contribs).

Career

Added more detail to Civil War era, and corrected the translation of the 'Dare to Die' Corps. DOR (HK) (talk) 08:27, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

It should also be mentioned that Bo was a radical hardliner in the 1950s collectivization campaign, in opposition to the more practical Chen Yun and Li Xiannian. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:29, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Please add information to this period of Bo's life if you have the sources.Ferox Seneca (talk) 06:21, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Bo Yibo/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

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Last edited at 04:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 09:53, 29 April 2016 (UTC)