Mao’s Widow Reported to Be Dying of Cancer

The widow of Chairman Mao Tse-tung has throat cancer and may be close to death, according to a newspaper that reached Peking on Monday.

The Weekly Digest published in the east China city of Hefei said that Jiang Qing, who will be 73 this year, is undergoing treatment for the cancer in a top Peking hospital. It gave no other details beyond saying she may be dying.

The fiery Jiang, one of the most colorful and powerful women in Chinese history, and three male associates formed the notorious Gang of Four that presided over purges during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. She was jailed a month after her husband’s death in September, 1976, and has been in prison ever since.

At a show trial in the Chinese capital in 1981, she was sentenced to death for her part in the Cultural Revolution, but the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.