Editing Gang of Four (section)

==Downfall==
{{Main article|Smashing the Gang of Four}}
[[Image:Gang of Four at trial.jpg|thumb|450px|The Gang of Four at their trial in 1981]]
Zhou Enlai died in January 1976, and, in the subsequent months, a power struggle occurred in the top echelons of the party. The reformist Deng was named acting premier, while the Gang of Four began using their newspapers to criticize Deng and to mobilize their urban militia groups. Much of the military and party security remained under the control of the party elders of the Central Committee, who generally took a cautious role in mediating between the reformist Deng and the radical Gang of Four. They agreed to the removal of Deng from office after the April [[1976 Tiananmen Incident|Tiananmen Incident]] but took steps to ensure that Deng and his allies would not be personally harmed in the process.

On September 9, Chairman Mao died. For the next few weeks the Gang of Four retained control over the government media, and many articles appeared on the theme of "principles laid down" (or "established") by Mao near the end of his life.<ref name=hsu15>{{Citation
| last1       = Hsü
| first1      = Immanuel Chung-yueh
| year       = 1990
| title      = China Without Mao: the Search for a New Order
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       = 0-19536-303-5
| page       = 15
}}</ref><ref name=baum>{{Citation
| last1       = Baum
| first1       = Richard
| year       = 1996
| title       = Burying Mao: Chinese Politics in the Age of Deng Xiaoping
| publisher       = Princeton University Press
| page       = [https://archive.org/details/buryingmao00rich/page/40 40]
| isbn       = 0-69103-637-3
| url-access       = registration
| url       = https://archive.org/details/buryingmao00rich/page/40
}}</ref> (The words "principles laid down" were themselves supposedly a quotation from Mao, but their canonical status was in dispute.<ref name=hsu15/>) Urban militia units commanded by supporters of the radical group were placed on a heightened state of readiness.<ref>{{Citation
| last1       = Hsü
| first1      = Immanuel Chung-yueh
| year       = 1990
| title      = China Without Mao: the Search for a New Order
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       = 0-19536-303-5
| page       = 13
}}</ref><ref name=baum/>

Premier Hua Guofeng attacked the radicals' media line at a Politburo meeting in late September;<ref name=hsu16/> but Jiang Qing emphatically disagreed with Hua, and she insisted that she be named as the new party chairman.<ref name=hsu16>{{Citation
| last1       = Hsü
| first1      = Immanuel Chung-yueh
| year       = 1990
| title      = China Without Mao: the Search for a New Order
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       = 0-19536-303-5
| page       = 16
}}</ref> The meeting ended inconclusively.<ref name=hsu16/> On October 4 the radical group warned, via an article in the ''[[Guangming Daily (China)|Guangming Daily]]'', that any revisionist who interfered with the established principles would "come to no good end".<ref name=baum/>

The radicals hoped that the key military leaders [[Wang Dongxing]] and [[Chen Xilian]] would support them, but instead, Hua won the Army over to his side. On 6 October 1976, Hua had the four leading radicals and a number of their lesser associates arrested. [[Han Suyin]] gave a detailed account of their overthrow:

{{blockquote|An emergency session of the Politburo was to take place in the Great Hall of the People that evening. Their presence was required. Since [[Wang Dongxing]] had been their ally, they did not suspect him... As they passed through the swinging doors into the entrance lobby, they were apprehended and led off in handcuffs. A special [[Central Security Bureau|8341 unit]] then went to Madam Mao's residence at No. 17 Fisherman's Terrace and arrested her.  That night Mao Yuanxin was arrested in [[Manchuria]], and the propagandists of the Gang of Four in [[Peking University]] and in newspaper offices were taken into custody. All was done with quiet and efficiency. In Shanghai, the Gang's supporters received a message to come to Beijing "for a meeting". They came and were arrested.  Thus, without shedding a drop of blood, the plans of the Gang of Four to wield supreme power were ended.<ref>''Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China'', [[Han Suyin]], 1994.  p. 413.</ref>}}

According to historian [[Immanuel C.Y. Hsu|Immanuel C.Y. Hsü]], the operation was not completely bloodless – Wang Hongwen killed two of the guards trying to capture him and was wounded himself before being subdued.<ref>{{Citation
| last1       = Hsü
| first1      = Immanuel Chung-yueh
| year       = 1990
| title      = China Without Mao: the Search for a New Order
| publisher  = Oxford University Press
| isbn       = 0-19536-303-5
| page       = 26
}}</ref>

Beginning on 21 October, nationwide denunciations of the Gang began, which culminated in the December release of files related to the Gang's alleged crimes to the public. The party issued a denunciation of the Gang of Four as "left in form, right in essence".<ref>{{cite web |title=A Letter to the League of Revolutionary Struggle |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/pul-lrs.htm |website=[[Marxist Internet Archive]] |access-date=17 August 2022 |quote=These quotes show that the CPC does not reject outright the characterization of the "gang of four" as ultra-"Left," as long as the "ultra-left in form, Right in essence" nature of the "gang of four" is clearly understood.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ching |first1=Frank |title=The Current Political Scene in China |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |date=1979 |volume=80 |issue=80 |pages=691–715 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000046002 |jstor=653038 |s2cid=154697304 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/653038 |access-date=17 August 2022 |issn=0305-7410}}</ref> Government media blamed the Gang of Four and Lin Biao for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Celebrations were prominent and not limited to the streets of Beijing and other major cities. During the nationwide "Movement of Exposition, Criticism and Uncovering (揭批查运动)" millions of formerly "[[Rebel Faction (Cultural Revolution)|rebel faction]]" red guards were publicly criticized as they were thought to be related to the Gang of Four.