1921.2.16.–2008.8.20.
↓ Left office 1981 · natural causes
Mao’s designated successor — “With you in charge, I am at ease” — who arrested the Gang of Four and was eased out by Deng Xiaoping
On 6 October 1976, a month after Mao died, Hua had the Gang of Four arrested at Zhongnanhai with Ye Jianying and Wang Dongxing, and took the party and Military Commission chairmanships. He then lost power to Deng Xiaoping by 1981.
From Shanxi, he rose as a provincial cadre in Hunan, caught Mao’s attention, and in 1976 became acting premier after Zhou Enlai’s death in January and first vice-chairman and premier after the April Tiananmen incident. After Mao died he arrested the Gang of Four in October with Ye Jianying and Wang Dongxing and took the party and Military Commission chairmanships. He sought legitimacy in the “two whatevers” — uphold every decision Chairman Mao made, follow every instruction he gave — but lost the initiative to Deng Xiaoping in the 1978 debate on the criterion of truth and at the Third Plenum, giving up the premiership and party chairmanship in 1980–1981. He remained on the Central Committee until 2002.
Also known as: Hua Kuo-feng
Activities and affiliations
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1938–2008
Political and party leadership
- Chairman, CCP Central CommitteeHeads of state, government and party of China1976–1981
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1976–1980
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPremier of the State CouncilHeads of state, government and party of China
Government and administration -
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPremier of the State CouncilMain
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1938–2008CCP member
- 1976Led the arrest of the Gang of Four after Mao’s death
- 1976.02.02–1980.09.10Premier of the State Council
- 1976.10.07–1981.06.28Chairman, CCP Central Committee
- 1978–1981Lost effective power to Deng Xiaoping and withdrew from top leadership
Related historical events
- 1966–1976The Cultural RevolutionMao’s successor who arrested the Gang of FourFirst vice-chairman from April 1976; arrested the Gang in October.
- 1976–1992Reform and opening: the Deng Xiaoping eraParty chairman of the “two whatevers”Lost the 1978 debate and stepped down as chairman in 1981.
- 1978–1979The Sino-Vietnamese WarChairman of the Central Military CommissionThe enlarged Military Commission meeting he chaired on 7 December 1978 adopted Deng’s proposal for the war.
The two whatevers and the turn of 1978
The two whatevers, proclaimed in a People’s Daily editorial in February 1977, reflected the fact that Hua’s authority derived from Mao’s nomination. But the same principle meant upholding the verdict that the April 1976 Tiananmen incident was “counter-revolutionary” and keeping Deng Xiaoping out, which collided with the veterans demanding rehabilitation. When the article “Practice is the sole criterion of truth” appeared in May 1978, the debate became one about how to handle Mao’s authority.
The central work conference and the Third Plenum of November–December 1978 reversed the Tiananmen verdict and moved the party’s focus from class struggle to economic construction. Hua kept his titles, but power passed to Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun; Zhao Ziyang became premier in 1980 and Hu Yaobang party chairman in 1981. The 1981 “Resolution on History” credited Hua with crushing the Gang of Four while faulting him for continuing leftist errors. His years are the seam between the Mao era and the reforms, where a Great Leap-style “foreign leap” investment plan overlapped with the first reform measures.