Its former director-generals include Liu Shaoqi, Luo Ronghuan, Tan Zheng, Xiao Hua, Li Desheng, Zhang Chunqiao, Wei Guoqing, Yu Qiuli, Yang Baibing, Yu Yongbo, Xu Caihou, and Li Jinai.
[1] The General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army played an important role for Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution, through its control of "political departments" that were set up throughout the state apparatus.
[2] In the summer of 1964 before the Cultural Revolution, organizations called "political departments" were set up in throughout branches of the administration in China, in central and regional levels.
This made the economic "political department" also under command of the armed forces, rather than the Party's Central Committee.
The last director was Zhang Yang, who served until 2016 and became head of the department's successor body.