Lin Liguo was the son of the Chinese Communist military leader Lin Biao

Lin Biao

Lin Biao was a major Chinese Communist military leader who was pivotal in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China...

 and the person in charge of Project 571 Outline

Project 571 Outline

Project 571 was the numeric codename given to an alleged plot or coup d'etat against Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1971 by the supporters of Lin Biao, then Vice-Chairman of the Communist Party of China. The operations were supposedly led by Lin's son, Lin Liguo, a high-ranking officer in the...

, a plotted coup against Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

.

Lin joined the People's Liberation Army Air Force

People's Liberation Army Air Force

The People's Liberation Army Air Force is the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army, the military of the People's Republic of China...

 in 1967 and was promoted to the deputy director of the Office of the Air Force Command in 1969.

Mao Zedong's government claims, that in 1970, under his father Lin Biao's direction, Lin Liguo made a plan known as Project 571

Project 571 Outline

Project 571 was the numeric codename given to an alleged plot or coup d'etat against Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1971 by the supporters of Lin Biao, then Vice-Chairman of the Communist Party of China. The operations were supposedly led by Lin's son, Lin Liguo, a high-ranking officer in the...

(in Chinese sounds like “rebel by force”) to assassinate Mao Zedong in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, but Mao was alerted to it and left Shanghai early one day and changed traffic back to Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. The Lin family, including Lin Biao, Ye Qun

Ye Qun

Ye Qun was the wife of Lin Biao , the Vice-Chairman of China who controlled China's military power. She was mostly known for taking care of politics for her husband. She died with her husband and son in the plane crash over Mongolia on September 13, 1971...

, and Lin Liguo, attempted to flee after the coup failed.

Party documents later released state:

"the plane was making for the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

but was inadequately fueled for such a trip; it also had on board neither navigator nor radio operator. It crashed in Mongolia on September 13, 1971, burning to death all on board.".

However, according to the historian J. D. Spence, "this story is essentially beyond verification, since the photographs later released by the Chinese authorities are of dubious authenticity and details on Lin Biao’s exact plans and on the other plotters are blurred".