Editing Gang of Four (section)

==Role==
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[[Image:Gang of Four poster.jpg|thumb|''"Decisively Throw Out the Wang-Zhang-Jiang-Yao Anti-Party Clique!"'']]
At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, on November 10, 1965, Yao Wenyuan, in one of his most famous pieces of writing, published an article in ''[[Wenhui Bao|Wenhuibao]]'' criticizing the play ''[[Hai Rui Dismissed from Office]]''.<ref name="Yao Wenyuan"/> The article argued that the opera was actually a sympathetic portrayal of the reformist efforts of the military hero [[Peng Dehuai]] and thus an attack on Chairman Mao's [[Great Leap Forward]]. Mao subsequently purged Peng from power.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yrkpx6iKq48C|title=The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng|last1=MacFarquhar|first1=Roderick|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521588638}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pengtehuaimanan00dome|url-access=registration|title=Peng Te-huai: The Man and the Image|last1=Domes|first1=Jürgen|date=1985|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804713030|access-date=2016-05-22}}</ref> The article is cited as the spark that launched the [[Cultural Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkB5adcnMVUC|title=The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms: A Historical Perspective|author-link1=Tsou Tang|last1=Tsou|first1=Tang|year=1999|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=9780226815145}}</ref>

Jiang Qing staged [[revolutionary opera]]s during the Cultural Revolution and met with the [[Red Guards]].<ref name=yanjiaqi>{{cite book | last1 = Jiaqi | first1 = Yan | author-link = Yan Jiaqi | author2 = Gao Gao | title = Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution | publisher = [[University of Hawaii Press]] | pages = 56–64 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7bNooFMV12sC&q=red+guards+zhang&pg=PA78 | isbn = 0-8248-1695-1 | year = 1996 | access-date = 2016-05-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160515123934/https://books.google.com/books?id=7bNooFMV12sC&pg=PA78&dq=red+guards+zhang#PPA64,M1 | archive-date = 2016-05-15 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Lu Xing">{{cite book | author=Lu, Xing| title=Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: the impact on Chinese thought, culture, and communication | publisher=University of South Carolina Press| year=2004| pages=143–150 |isbn=1570035431}}</ref>

The removal of this group from power is sometimes considered to have marked the end of the Cultural Revolution, which had been launched by Mao in 1966 as part of his power struggle with leaders such as [[Liu Shaoqi]], [[Deng Xiaoping]] and [[Peng Zhen]]. Mao placed his wife Jiang Qing, a former film actress who before 1966 had not taken a public political role, in charge of the country's cultural apparatus. Zhang, Yao and Wang were party leaders in Shanghai who had played leading roles in securing that city for Mao during the Cultural Revolution.

Around the time of the death of Lin Biao in 1971, the Cultural Revolution began to lose momentum. The new commanders of the [[People's Liberation Army]] demanded that order be restored in light of the dangerous situation along the border with the [[Soviet Union]] (see [[Sino-Soviet split]]). Premier [[Zhou Enlai]], who had accepted the Cultural Revolution, but never fully supported it, regained his authority, and used it to bring Deng Xiaoping back into the Party leadership at the 10th Party Congress in 1973. Liu Shaoqi had meanwhile died in prison in 1969.

Near the end of Mao's life, a power struggle occurred between the Gang of Four and the alliance of Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, and [[Ye Jianying]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Was the Gang of Four and Their Connection to Mao Zedong? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-gang-of-four-195613 |access-date=2023-02-24 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>