Ling Yun

Ling Yun (; 29 June 1917 – 15 March 2018), born as Wu Peilin , was a politician of the People's Republic of China, who served as the first Minister of State Security, from June 1983 (officially from July 1) to September 1985.

A protégé of General Luo Ruiqing, he headed the 1st Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security during the early Maoist years, dealing with suppression of political, ethnic and religious opponents of the Chinese Communist Party.

Biography Ling Yun was born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang on 29 June 1917. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in April 1938 and became a guerrilla fighter in Shanxi Province. He received military training at the "Shanxi Youth Officers School", run by warlord Yan Xishan, who, at the time, was working together with the CCP to oppose the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Later, he moved to neighboring Shaanxi Province, where he studied at the "Northern Shaanxi Public School", which was established in 1937 by the CCP to train anti-Japanese military and political officers. After graduating, he was posted at the headquarters of the CCP in Yan'an, where he joined and advanced in the ranks of the Central Social Affairs Department, led, at the time, by Kang Sheng.

After the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War, Ling became a member of the North China land reform team led by Kang Sheng, and was active in seizing land from wealthy landlords and distributing it to peasants. In August 1948, he served as the Director of the Public Security Bureau (police chief) of the city of Weifang, after it was captured by the People's Liberation Army, and from 1949 to 1952 he was Deputy Director of the Public Security Bureau of Jinan, the capital of Shandong.

From 1952 to 1966, Ling was based in Beijing, as Deputy Director and then Director of the 1st Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, and from 1963 Deputy Minister of Public Security, handling very sensitive issues, as his Bureau dealt with the suppression of political, ethnic and religious separatism.