The end of Maos china

• What kind of health problems was Mao suffering from?


  Heart and lung
• Who led the moderates (pragmatists) in the party 


  Zhou Enlai
• Who led the radicals (ideologues) in the party?

  Jiang Qing
• What difference did Zhou Enlai reviving his call of the 4 modernisations make?


  Advancements in agriculture, industry, defence and science and technology

  Reliance on expertise which was opposite to Mao‘s beliefs

  Needed close links to the US

  Played a key role in getting president Nixon to visit the China in 1972
• Deng Xiaoping return to politics 


  Zhou Enlai convinced Mao to allow him to return to politics in 1973

  He was made vice premier

  Mao said he had a potential successor lined up (Wang Hongwen) mentored by Deng
• Who was the leading figure of the gang of 4?

  Jiang Qing
• Why was the gang of 4 weakened after the Lin Biao affair?


  Many in the party questioned if it had gone to far
• What was the ‘criticise Lin Biao and Confucius’ campaign?


  Launched in 1973 and supported by the CCRG it attempted to portray Lin as a rightist pretending to be on the left

  The aim was to extend the attack to anyone with a moderate approach (Deng)

  They said they should boycott western technology and bring back the communes
• The death of Zhou Enlai

  Zhou died in 1976

  When his body was cremated millions of people lined the streets

  Deng read out a speech in his honour

  Jing continued to attack Deng calling him ‘China’s new Khrushchev‘
• Tiananmen Square incident (1976) 


  April 1976 a memorial was held for Zhou Enlai at Tiananmen square

  Thousands came and laid wreathes and made speeches in his honour and criticised the gang of 4

  The government tried to remove the wreathes and disperse the gathering
• What did the gang of 4 do after the Tiananmen Square incident? 


  They got support from the politburo to dismiss Deng

  He was sent into exile to work at a pig farm

  Mao agreed but said that he no longer wanted Wang Hongwen to be his successor as he had been to influenced by Jiang Qing

  Named a new successor Hua Guofeng
• What happened in May 1976 


  Mao suffered a heart attack

  Gang of 4 decided to undermine Hua and organised a Shanghai militia

  Hua reacted and made an alliance with the PLA commanders
• What happened after Maos death?


  He died on 9th September 1976

  Radicals move swiftly

  Qing claimed Mao had given instructions from his deathbed

  Hongwen installed himself in government office and instructed local party organisations to report directly to him
• What happened in October 1976?

  The radicals brought out an article ‘always act in accordance with the policies laid out by chairman Mao’

  Stated that Hua was a revisionist and that all power should be transferred to the gang of 4- mobilising their military units in Shanghai

  Hua acted quickly as he had the PLA on his side and arrested the gang of 4

  Jiang Qing was put on trial and sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment- committed suicide

  Deng felt safe enough to return to politics and became leader
• Key features of the cultural revolution?

  Formation of the red guards

  Cultural destruction

  Power struggle between moderates and radicals

  Attack on the 4 olds

  Personality Cult

  Removal of Lui and Deng

  Political purges

  Cleansing of the class ranks