Editing Gang of Four (section)

==Formation==
The group was led by [[Jiang Qing]], and consisted of three of her close associates, [[Zhang Chunqiao]], [[Yao Wenyuan]], and [[Wang Hongwen]]. Two other men who were already dead in 1976, [[Kang Sheng]] and [[Xie Fuzhi]], were named as having been part of the "Gang". [[Chen Boda]] and [[Mao Yuanxin]], the latter being Mao's nephew, were also considered some of the Gang's closer associates.

Most Western accounts consider that the actual leadership of the Cultural Revolution consisted of a wider group, referring predominantly to the members of the [[Cultural Revolution Group|Central Cultural Revolution Group]]. Most prominent was [[Lin Biao]], until his purported defection from China and death in a plane crash in 1971. Chen Boda is often classed as a member of Lin's faction rather than Jiang Qing's.<ref>Glossary of Names and Identities in ''Mao's Last Revolution'', by [[Roderick MacFarquhar]] and Michael Schoenhals, [[Harvard University Press]] 2006.</ref>