Editing Hua Guofeng (section)

=== Domestic politics ===
Hua was not broadly known to the Chinese public at the time of his appointment.{{Sfn|Lampton|2024|p=68}}

Starting in late 1976, Hua started a nationwide campaign to criticize the Gang of Four, together with a process of "reversing the verdicts" for people who criticized the Gang. People punished after the 1976 Tiananmen incident were released,{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=15}} and the incident was re-assessed during a Central Work Conference held in 1977. From October 1976 to December 1978, more than 4600 cadres disgraced during the Cultural Revolution were rehabilitated.{{Sfn|Li-Ogawa|2022|p=126}}

In July 1977, at the 1st Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Deng was rehabilitated with the approval of Hua. The Plenum also marked a large change in the Central Committee's composition, with 68 newly elected members, of which more than 20 were rehabilitated officials.{{Sfn|Li-Ogawa|2022|p=126}} Despite his wishes to be cremated, Mao's body was also placed in a [[Chairman Mao Memorial Hall|mausoleum]], while Hua was in charge of editing the fifth volume of [[Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung|''Selected Works of Mao Zedong'']], later subject to significant propaganda efforts.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=16}}

In February 1977, the central leadership under Hua released a new slogan: "We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions [[Mao Zedong|Chairman Mao]] made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave". Satirically referred to as the "[[Two Whatevers]]", this slogan was used to criticize Hua due to the perception that he obeyed Mao's orders too blindly.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=16}} The leadership authorized the first [[Gaokao|National College Entrance Examination]] since the Cultural Revolution began in 1977.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=16}}

Hua also attempted reforming state protocol as a method of elevating his prestige. In 1978 all party meetings were to hang portraits of Mao and Hua side-by-side, including at the National People's Congress and CCP Party Congress meetings. All schools were required to hang Hua's picture next to Mao's. Hua also changed the [[March of the Volunteers|Chinese national anthem]] to incorporate Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party, switching the tone from being war-rallying to purely Communist ideology; these lyrics were eventually rejected. Hua Guofeng continued to use the terminology of the Cultural Revolution, but he criticized certain aspects of it, including the education reform, the revolutionary committees' activity and other excesses, blaming the Gang of Four. State media referred to him as "the wise leader".

In February 1978, the first session of the [[5th National People's Congress]] approved [[1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China|a new state constitution]], which Hua was heavily involved in drafting. This document attempted to restore some rule of law and planning mechanisms from the PRC's original 1956 constitution, though it still contained references to [[Continuous Revolution Theory|continuous revolution]] and proletarian internationalism; it was replaced only four years later with [[Constitution of the People's Republic of China|a different constitution]].{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=15}}