[citation needed] During the Chinese Civil War, she served as staff officer, secretary, translator and other positions in the headquarters of the units within People's Liberation Army.

In late 1965, she assisted Lin Biao in bringing down his adversary, Luo Ruiqing, the Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army.

During the meeting, she was given the floor three times and over a period of about ten hours she enumerated the "offenses" of Luo Ruiqing, who according to the Ye, misinterpreted Maoism and tried to launch a coup to remove Lin Biao from power in the Ministry of Defense.

[3] French Sinologist Jean-Luc Domenach characterizes her as:[3] "a real educational background, the aspirations of midinette, the taste for money, the fear of her husband, an unlimited admiration for her son and finally panic in the face of danger.

According to Party documents, in early 1971, it was Ye Qun who asked her son Lin Liguo to assassinate Mao Zedong during his trip to Shanghai, as part of the plan known as Project 571.

[2] Further information from the Party documents later released state: "the plane was making for the Soviet Union but was inadequately fueled for such a trip; it also had on board neither navigator nor radio operator.

Skeptics have claimed that Lin's decision to flee to the Soviet Union was illogical, on the grounds that the United States or Taiwan would have been safer destinations.