Editing Hua Guofeng (section)

== Retirement and death ==
After [[16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|16th Party Congress]] in November 2002, Hua officially lost his seat on the Central Committee of the CCP. It was reported that he voluntarily retired for age and health reasons, but the party did not officially confirm this.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pakistan Daily Times Article |work=[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]] |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-11-2002_pg4_1 |access-date=10 February 2005}}</ref> He was, however, invited to the [[17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|17th Party Congress]] in 2007 as a special delegate and he appeared at a ceremony which was held in December 2007 in order to commemorate the 115th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:十七大之后拜访华国锋 |trans-title=Visiting Hua Guofeng after the 17th Congress|work = Sohu|url=http://cul.sohu.com/20080505/n256668060.shtml |access-date=22 September 2008}}</ref> Despite his retention of formal party positions, Hua distanced himself from active participation in politics. His main hobby was grape cultivation, and he kept up with current affairs by subscribing to a host of newspapers.<ref name=":0" />

Hua's health deteriorated in 2008, and he was hospitalized for kidney and heart complications.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/99014/8080963.html |script-title=zh:简单的晚年生活 华国锋远离政治的日子 |trans-title=A simple late life: Hua Guofeng's days away from politics |work=China News Weekly |date=21 September 2008 |language=zh-cn |access-date=21 September 2008 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607205701/http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/99014/8080963.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hua died in Beijing on 20 August 2008.<ref>Keith Bradsher and William J. Wellman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/asia/21hua.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin "Hua Guofeng, 87, Who Led China After Mao, Dies"], ''The New York Times'', 20 August 2008.</ref> A cause of death was not given, and because his death occurred during the [[2008 Summer Olympics]] in Beijing, it was not given much attention by state media: merely a 30-second broadcast on the national news program ''[[Xinwen Lianbo]]''{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} and a short paragraph on the corner of the front page of the ''[[People's Daily]]''.<ref name="sohu">{{cite news |script-title=zh:华国锋在京病逝 曾经担任党和国家重要领导职务|url=http://news.sohu.com/20080820/n259060402.shtml|access-date=31 December 2011|newspaper=Sohu via Xinhua|date=21 August 2008}}</ref> His funeral, which was held at the [[Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery]] on 30 August, was attended by the all members of the [[Politburo Standing Committee]], as well as former President [[Jiang Zemin]] and former Premier [[Zhu Rongji]].<ref name="pd">{{cite news |script-title=zh:华国锋同志遗体在京火化 胡锦涛等到革命公墓送别|trans-title=Comrade Hua Guofeng's body was cremated in Beijing; Hu Jintao waited at the Revolutionary Cemetery to bid farewell|url=http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64094/7751903.html|access-date=31 December 2011|newspaper=People's Daily|date=30 August 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229080924/http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64094/7751903.html|archive-date=29 December 2011}}</ref>