The curtain dropped the conventional way: In 1971, the cutting-edge Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident jet caught fire and caught fire in the vast emptiness of outer Mongolia’s ndörkhaan desert. Hours later, the People’s Republic of China Marshal and military hero of the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao, who was traveling on the plane with his wife Ye Qun and son Lin Liguo, was branded a traitor. The People’s Republic of China claimed that the veteran marshal had tried to escape after attempting to kill Chairman Mao Zedong.

Even the Central Intelligence Agency struggled to separate fact from fiction over how and why the most illustrious hero of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had been slain, as evidenced by their partially declassified inquiry. No proof existed that Project 571, Lin’s purported plan to kill Mao, had started: “No bullet was fired, no bomb exploded.” According to the allegation, Lin may have even been put to death while on vacation at the Peitaiho summer resort.

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As Chinese President Xi Jinping begins the largest purge of the political system since the historic anti-corruption drive of 2017, which led to the expulsion of more than 170 ministers and deputy ministers, the tale has returned from dusty history books. Nearly 1.34 million people, from “flies” to “tigers” like Zhou Yongkang, the third-most influential politician in the country, serve in government. The purge was essential for Xi to gain unrestrained power in China.

China’s influential defence minister, Li Shangfu, hasn’t been spotted in public since August, and according to western intelligence agencies, he was discreetly fired from his position. General Li Yuchao, the head of the PLA Rocket Force, which is in charge of the nation’s arsenal of both conventional and nuclear land-based missiles, has also disappeared.

Four high-ranking police officials were fired last year on the basis of both corruption accusations and claims of plotting against Xi, according to journalist Frédéric Lemaître, who noted the first indications that the purge was gaining steam.

There are many theories on what’s happening in China. According to journalist Brendan Cole, Xi is taking action to avoid a Wagner Group-style praetorian uprising; nevertheless, other observers think the president is battling an establishment worried about his economic policies and a potentially dangerous clash with Taiwan.

According to Michael Rowand, a researcher at the Federal Research Division of the US Library of Congress, the purge is intended to get rid of possible challengers for Xi who might have amassed too much institutional authority.