An undated photo of Lin Zhao, born in 1932, pen-name of Peng Lingzhao. Lin was labeled a “rightist” in 1957 when she was 25 after she made remarks publicly showing sympathy towards “rightist” schoolmates. Later she wrote articles for an unofficial publication and sent a long petition to Mao Zedong about the case of Peng Dehuai, the former army commander denounced because he dared to criticize Mao’s Great Leap Forward policies.

In October 1960, Lin Zhao was first arrested in Suzhou for being a counterrevolutionary. She was later sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Eight years later, by chance a friend of her family witnessed Lin being taken to Longhua Airport, Shanghai’s third runway, on April 29, 1968. With her hands handcuffed at back and a gag in her mouth, Lin was taken out of one of the two military jeeps by two armed men and was kicked in the waist to make her kneel down. Then another two armed men fired two shots at her. Afterwards the four put her body into another jeep and drove away. Her remains were never given to her family; neither were they informed of how they had been disposed of. Lin was 36 when she died.