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Death of Mao and the fall of the Gang of Four (Oct,1976)
Death of Mao
Under these conditions society began to be confused again, and, on September 9 1976, the founder of China and its leader, Mao Zedong, died. Even though he committed a mistake with the Cultural Revolution, he is still a hero who established China for the people. All the Party organizations, the armed forces and the people grieved the death of Mao.
The death of Mao worsened the serious political crisis, which already existed, for the "Gang of Four" was plotting to weaken military power. Hardly had Mao died when the "Gang of Four" made efforts to weaken the supreme power of the Party and government. The "Gang of Four" tried to make Shanghai a base to weaken the leadership of the CCP and government, and they ordered their subordinates to prepare for that.
The veteran bureaucrats were disturbed about overt activities by the "Gang of Four", who were plotting to deprive party and government of their power. In October, the activity of the "Gang of Four" became even more public. They made speeches to promote the CR in universities and local areas.
The Fall of Gang of Four
The CCP decided to take a decisive measure immediately. The measure was to hold a Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, make Yao take part in the committee and deal with Jiang in another way. On October 6, Hua Guofeng held the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, carried out judgement and execution on Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan separately, and sent a man to Jiang, to carry out the judgement and execution likewise. They took the same measures with some of the subordinates in Beijing. It took less than thirty minutes to carry this out, and the "Gang of Four" was destroyed without even one shot being fired. At the same time, they seized the mass media, which the "Gang of Four" had seized. In the night, a congress was held, in which Hua Guofeng was appointed chairman.
A day after that, knowing that the "Gang of Four" had been imprisoned, their subordinates in Shanghai held a meeting immediately and tried to rebel. The CCP sent officers to Shanghai to suppress the movement. Besides, their rebellion received strong resistance from a lot of officers and the people, and the conspiracy fell.
On October 14, the CCP published the facts of the destruction of the
"Gang of Four". The whole of China was overjoyed, people told each other the news and drank to the victory. Alcohol was sold out in a lot of areas. Between 21st and 30th October, enormous congregations and parades were seen everywhere in China, and people celebrated victory for the destruction of the "Gang of Four".
End of the Cultural Revolution
The victory for the destruction of the "Gang of Four" saved the Party from a crisis and it led the disastrous Cultural Revolution to an end. In this way, China took a step forward into a new historical development.
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