After enduring prolonged and brutal persecution and detention in Kaifeng, Henan, Liu Shaoqi passed away from illness in the early morning of November 12, 1969, and was cremated immediately.
A mass rally to criticize Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping was held in Tiananmen Square. Liu Shaoqi held up the Constitution to protest and was beaten by Red Guards, while Wang Guangmei was also publicly humiliated and subsequently arrested.
Mao Zedong posted the big-character poster 'Bombard the Headquarters' at the plenary session, pointing the spearhead directly at Liu Shaoqi. Liu Shaoqi's ranking within the party plummeted, marking his loss of power.
Because the Three Years of Great Famine exposed numerous problems, the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference was convened. Officials expressed dissatisfaction with the Great Leap Forward at the conference, forcing Mao Zedong to make self-criticism and step back to the second line of leadership, while Liu Shaoqi took over frontline economic management authority.
At the Lushan Conference, Liu Shaoqi brought up old accounts against Peng Dehuai, supported the resolution to overthrow the Peng Dehuai anti-party clique, and subsequently signed the dismissal order in his capacity as Chairman of the State.
Liu Shaoqi was officially elected President of the People's Republic of China in April 1959, reaching the peak of his political career.
At the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Liu Shaoqi delivered a report on revising the Party Constitution, writing Mao Zedong Thought into the constitution. Following the congress, he officially became the number two leader within the party.
During the Yan'an Rectification Movement, Liu Shaoqi catered to Mao Zedong by publishing articles and beginning to use the term 'Mao Zedong Thought,' thereby establishing his political position within the party.
After being filtered by communism, Liu Shaoqi was selected and recommended to Moscow in 1921 for advanced studies, systematically learning Marxism-Leninism.