Li Weihan

Li Weihan (; 2 June 1896 – 11 August 1984) was a Chinese Communist Party politician from Hunan. A Long March veteran, Li led the Central Party School in Yan'an. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was the Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and led the United Front Department until 1964. As director of the UFWD, Li's view was that the CCP should accommodate and seek to raise the political consciousness of religious believers, contending that believers were generally "patriotic". In the 1960s, Li was politically targeted because of his comparatively soft line on religious policy. Politically rehabilitated in 1978, Li was later appointed to the Central Advisory Commission. Li died in 1984.

Biography Li was from Hunan. Li became a member of the 6th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in 1927 but fell out of favour shortly afterwards in the wake of the unsuccessful Autumn Harvest Uprising in junction of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. When he sought to bring the uprising to an end, he found himself accused of cowardice. Li was eclipsed until reemerging in the early 1930s as a supporter of Li Lisan, a leading figure in the CCP at the time, and an opponent of the anti-Mao 28 Bolsheviks faction.

Li was a veteran of the Long March. After the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Li was involved in managing China's minorities and nationalities as Chairman of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. He was also a significant player in the CCP's drive to introduce state control of the economy (Soviet-type economic planning), and in the late-1950s Anti-Rightist Campaign, in which his own brother was purged. the predecessor to the present-day United Front Work Department. Regarding religious policy, Li's view was that there were few counterrevolutionaries among religious believers, and that the majority were "patriotic". He believed that the CCP should be patient with most religious believers and work to increase their political consciousness. Li contended that the CCP should avoid harsh stances on religion, deeming harsh measures as counterproductive and damaging to the Party's credibility.

In the 1960s, Li was investigated and targeting politically, in part because of his accommodating stance regarding religious believers. He was removed from his post in 1964 and was subsequently criticised by Zhou Enlai for "capitulationism in united front work".

Ulanhu politically rehabilitated Li in spring 1978, stating that the "cap" of shame previously placed on the UFWD and those like Li was now removed. Li reemerged after 1978 as a supporter of the reformist Deng Xiaoping – who Li had saved from persecution years before – and as a critic of Mao and autocracy in the CCP, which Li referred to as "feudalism".

In 1981, Li's 1950s-1960s essays on religion were republished in The Question of the United Front and the Question of the Nationalities. Li wrote:

Deng promoted Li in 1982 to the post of vice chairman of the Central Advisory Commission, which Deng himself chaired. Li died in office in August 1984.