[1][2] After the Communists defeated the Kuomintang and established the People's Republic of China in 1949, Liu Zihou became a leader of Hubei, and was the provincial governor from 1954 to 1956.

On January 29, the Red Guards of the August First faction paraded Liu on a truck for five hours, which was reportedly witnessed by a million people.

On February 11, the 69th Army of the PLA commanded by General Xie Zhenhua jailed 1000 members of the August First Red Guards, and restored Liu Zihou to power.

[10] Worried about the situation in Hebei, which surrounds the capital Beijing, in December Chairman Mao sent Chen Boda and Li Xuefeng to the province.

[11] In mid-January 1968, the Beijing Military Region helped to create the Revolutionary Committee of Hebei, chaired by Li Xuefeng, the party boss of North China.

The military exerted strong influence over the 121-member committee, but the 38th Army in Baoding still backed the rebels and challenged Liu's authority.

[12] In 1971, national political circumstances changed when Lin Biao died in a mysterious plane crash over Mongolia,[13] and Li Xuefeng and Chen Boda were thrown into prison.

However, with the help of his patron, the senior party leader Li Xiannian, in January 1980 he became the deputy director of the State Planning Commission of China.