Editing Jiang Qing (section)

===Televised trial===
[[Image:Jiang Qing at trial.jpg|thumb|Jiang at her trial in 1980]]
Hua was later replaced by [[Deng Xiaoping]], who proceeded with prosecuting Jiang.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Alexander C. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cultural-revolution-on-trial/F1E731E8061754208A2D3EA1115FEE26 |title=The Cultural Revolution on Trial: Mao and the Gang of Four |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76111-6 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/9780511980411 |access-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602054839/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cultural-revolution-on-trial/F1E731E8061754208A2D3EA1115FEE26 |archive-date=2 June 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of her arrest, the country lacked the proper institutions for a legal trial.<ref name=":8" /> As a result, she and the other members of the Gang of Four were held in a state of limbo for the first six months of their capture.<ref name=":8" /> Following prompt legal modernisation, an indictment was brought forward, formally titled "Indictment of the Special Procuratorate under the [[Supreme People's Procuratorate]] of the People’s Republic of China." The indictment contained 48 separate counts.<ref name=":8" />

In November 1980, the government announced that Jiang and nine others would stand trial.<ref name=":24">{{Cite web |date=1980-11-19 |title=Gang of Four trial starts Thursday |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/11/19/Gang-of-Four-trial-starts-Thursday/7394343458000/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> She was tried with the other three members of the Gang of Four and six associates.<ref name=":8" /> She was accused of persecuting artists during the Cultural Revolution, and authorising the [[Burglary|burgling]] of the homes of writers and performers in Shanghai to destroy material related to Jiang's early career that could [[Kompromat|harm her reputation]].<ref name=":8" /> Xinhua News Agency reported that Jiang initially sought to recruit her own lawyers but rejected those recommended by the special team after interviews. Meanwhile, five of the ten defendants agreed to be represented by government-appointed lawyers who would act as their defence counsel.<ref name=":24" />

{{External media|image1=|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czl-MrXe6QM&t Trial of Jiang Qing I] <small>(footage edited by [[TVB]], [[Cantonese]] and Mandarin)</small>|width=220px|video2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAOr8eLvB0Q Trial of Jiang Qing II] <small>(footage edited by TVB, Cantonese and Mandarin)</small>|video3=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNFVTiYgdo8&pp=ygUUIOaxn-mdkiDoj6_oppbmlrDogZ4%3D Jiang Qing sentenced to death] <small>(footage edited by [[Chinese Television System|CTS]], [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]])</small>}}

Jiang was defiant in the court.<ref name=":8" /> She argued to the special prosecution teams that Mao should also be held accountable for her actions.<ref name=":24" /> Whenever a witness took the stand, there was a chance the court proceedings would devolve into a shouting match.<ref name=":8" /> She did not deny the accusations,<ref name="zheng_2010" /> and insisted that she had been protecting Mao and following his instructions. Jiang remarked:<ref name="modern">{{cite book |last=Hutchings |first=Graham |title=Modern China |year=2001 |publisher=MA: Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-674-01240-2}}</ref>

{{Cquote
| quote = I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite.{{efn|{{lang-zh|s=我是毛主席的一条狗，毛主席叫我咬谁我就咬谁。}}}}
}}

Her defence strategy was marked by attempts to transcend the court room and appeal to history and the logic of revolution.<ref name=":8" /> Jiang sought to challenge Hua Guofeng's authority within the Party, with an appalling yet unverifiable claim,{{Sfn|Terrill|1999|p=343}}

{{Blockquote|text=[A]bout that night Mao Zedong wrote the words, "With you in charge, I'm at ease" for Hua Guofeng. [...] That was not all Chairman Mao wrote to Hua. He wrote six more characters: "If you have questions, ask Jiang Qing."{{efn|{{lang-zh|s=那天晚上毛主席给华国锋写“你办事，我放心”的话，这不是毛主席给华国锋写的全部内容，至少还写了六个字：“有问题，找江青”。}}}}}}

The court announced its verdict after six weeks of testimony and debate and four weeks of deliberations. In early 1981, she was convicted and [[Death sentence with reprieve|sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve]]. She was assigned the highest level of criminal liability among the defendants as a "ringleader" of a [[Counter-revolutionary|counterrevolutionary]] group. [[Wu Xiuquan]] recounted in his memoir that the court room erupted into applause as the verdict was read and Jiang Qing was dragged out of the court room by two female guards while shouting revolutionary slogans.<ref name=":8" />