Editing Gang of Four

{{Short description|Chinese political faction}}
{{Other uses}}
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{{History of the People's Republic of China}}
The '''Gang of Four''' ({{zh|s=四人帮|t=四人幫|p=Sì rén bāng}}) was a [[Maoist]] [[political faction]] composed of four [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the [[Cultural Revolution]] (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to their responsibility for the excesses and failures in the Cultural Revolution. The gang's leading figure was [[Jiang Qing]] ([[Mao Zedong]]'s last wife). The other members were [[Zhang Chunqiao]], [[Yao Wenyuan]], and [[Wang Hongwen]].<ref name="Yao Wenyuan">{{Cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/node/5381892|title=Yao Wenyuan|newspaper=The Economist|issn=0013-0613|access-date=2016-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623212046/http://www.economist.com/node/5381892|archive-date=2016-06-23|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Gang of Four controlled the power organs of the CCP through the later stages of the Cultural Revolution, although it remains unclear which major decisions were made by Mao Zedong and carried out by the Gang, and which were the result of the Gang of Four's own planning.

Their [[Smashing the Gang of Four|fall]] did not amount to a rejection of the Cultural Revolution as such; it was organized by the new leader, Premier [[Hua Guofeng]], and others who had risen during that period. Significant repudiation of the entire process of change came later, with the return of [[Deng Xiaoping]] at the [[11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/22/newsid_2516000/2516339.stm|title=1977: Deng Xiaoping back in power|date=22 July 1977|access-date=18 January 2018|via=news.bbc.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728025020/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/22/newsid_2516000/2516339.stm|archive-date=28 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> and Hua's gradual loss of authority.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/asia/21hua.html|title=Hua Guofeng, Transitional Leader of China After Mao, Is Dead at 87|date=21 August 2008|website=The New York Times|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105075344/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/asia/21hua.html|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Formation==
The group was led by [[Jiang Qing]], and consisted of three of her close associates, [[Zhang Chunqiao]], [[Yao Wenyuan]], and [[Wang Hongwen]]. Two other men who were already dead in 1976, [[Kang Sheng]] and [[Xie Fuzhi]], were named as having been part of the "Gang". [[Chen Boda]] and [[Mao Yuanxin]], the latter being Mao's nephew, were also considered some of the Gang's closer associates.

Most Western accounts consider that the actual leadership of the Cultural Revolution consisted of a wider group, referring predominantly to the members of the [[Cultural Revolution Group|Central Cultural Revolution Group]]. Most prominent was [[Lin Biao]], until his purported defection from China and death in a plane crash in 1971. Chen Boda is often classed as a member of Lin's faction rather than Jiang Qing's.<ref>Glossary of Names and Identities in ''Mao's Last Revolution'', by [[Roderick MacFarquhar]] and Michael Schoenhals, [[Harvard University Press]] 2006.</ref>

==Role==
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2018}}<!--3 paragraphs have no citations-->
[[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>

==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.

==Aftermath==
Immediately after the arrests, Premier [[Hua Guofeng]], Marshal Ye Jianying, and economic czars [[Chen Yun]] and [[Li Xiannian]] formed the core of the next party leadership.<ref>http://www.chaos.umd.edu/history/prc4.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902052638/http://www.chaos.umd.edu/history/prc4.html |date=2006-09-02 }} and {{cite web |url=http://www.wm.edu/cwa/A04PDFs/05.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-05-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528003924/http://www.wm.edu/cwa/A04PDFs/05.pdf |archive-date=2008-05-28 }}, pp. 26–27</ref> These four, together with the rehabilitated Deng Xiaoping and Wang Dongxing, were elected party Vice Chairmen at the August 1977 [[National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/china2.htm |title=Political Leaders: China |publisher=Terra.es |access-date=2011-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806030501/http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/china2.htm |archive-date=2011-08-06 }}</ref> At the politburo level, the membership of all four living marshals, seven other generals and at least five others with close military ties reflected the deep concern for national stability.

==Trial==

The Gang of Four trials were part of the communist party's effort to establish an institutionalized justice system.<ref name=":Qian">{{Cite book |last=Qian |first=Ying |title=Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China |date=2024 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231204477 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=222}} The trials were highly visible to the Chinese public thanks to the daily television broadcasts of trial sessions and wide circulation of documentary films about the trials.<ref name=":Qian" />{{Rp|page=222}}

In late 1980, the four deposed leaders were subjected to a trial by the [[Supreme People's Court of China]] with [[Jiang Hua]] presiding; in January 1981, they were convicted of anti-party activities. During the trial, Jiang Qing in particular was extremely defiant, protesting loudly and bursting into tears at some points. She was the only member of the Gang of Four to argue on her own behalf. The defence's argument was that she obeyed the orders of Chairman Mao Zedong at all times. Zhang Chunqiao refused to admit any wrongdoing. Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen expressed repentance and confessed their alleged crimes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/gangoffour/Gangof4.html|title=The Gang of Four Trial|first1=Haiping|last1=Zheng|year=2010|access-date=2017-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230122458/http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/gangoffour/Gangof4.html|archive-date=2017-12-30|url-status=live}}</ref>

The prosecution separated political errors from actual crimes. Among the latter were the usurpation of state power and party leadership; the persecution of some 750,000 people, 34,375 of whom died during the period 1966–1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.country-studies.com/china/the-four-modernizations,-1979-82.html |title=China the Four Modernizations, 1979–82 |publisher=Country-studies.com |access-date=2011-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602132245/http://country-studies.com/china/the-four-modernizations,-1979-82.html |archive-date=2011-06-02 |url-status=live }}</ref> The official records of the trial have not yet been released.{{as of?|date=June 2021}}{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Audience members who attended the opening of the trial included selected people's representatives from each province and autonomous region, as well as victims' families including the widows of Liu Shaoqi, [[He Long]], and [[Luo Ruiqing]].<ref name=":Qian" />{{Rp|page=223}}

Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao received death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonment, while Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan were given life and twenty years in prison, respectively. All members of the Gang of Four have since died; Jiang Qing committed suicide in 1991, Wang Hongwen died in 1992, and Yao Wenyuan and Zhang Chunqiao died in 2005, having been released from prison in 1996 and 1998, respectively.

Supporters of the Gang of Four, including Chen Boda and Mao Yuanxin, were also sentenced.<ref>{{Citation |last=Cook |first=Alexander C. |title=China's Gang of Four Trial: The Law v. The Laws of History |date=2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/political-trials-in-theory-and-history/chinas-gang-of-four-trial/494C2B8553812198C36AEFB273CD9B7B |work=Political Trials in Theory and History |pages=263–294 |editor-last=Pendas |editor-first=Devin O. |access-date=2023-03-19 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781139941631.010 |isbn=978-1-107-07946-5 |editor2-last=Meierhenrich |editor2-first=Jens}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pace |first=Eric |date=1989-09-30 |title=Chen Boda, 85, Leader of Chinese Purges in 60's |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/30/obituaries/chen-boda-85-leader-of-chinese-purges-in-60-s.html |access-date=2023-03-19 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

== Use of the term as a historical analogy ==

=== "Little Gang of Four" ===
In the struggle between Hua Guofeng's and Deng Xiaoping's followers, a new term emerged, pointing to Hua's four closest collaborators, Wang Dongxing, [[Wu De]], [[Ji Dengkui]] and Chen Xilian.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eLkscG0vvskC|title=China's second revolution: Reform after Mao|first1=Harry|last1=Harding|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0815707288|access-date=2017-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101030115/https://books.google.ca/books?id=eLkscG0vvskC|archive-date=2018-01-01|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1980, they were charged with "grave errors" in the struggle against the Gang of Four and demoted from the Political Bureau to mere Central Committee membership.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forster |first1=Keith |title=China's Coup of October 1976 |journal=Modern China |date=July 1992 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=263–303 |doi=10.1177/009770049201800302 |jstor=189334 |s2cid=143387271 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/189334 |access-date=8 August 2021}}</ref>

=== Hong Kong's "Gangs of Four" ===
In 2013, mainland Chinese state media labelled [[Anson Chan]], [[Martin Lee]], [[Joseph Zen]] and [[Jimmy Lai]] as 'Hong Kong's "Gang of Four"' due to their alleged foreign connections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2013-04/26/content_16450955.htm|title=What's Chan up to?|publisher=China Daily|date=2013-04-26|access-date=2019-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814110426/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkedition/2013-04/26/content_16450955.htm|archive-date=2019-08-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, the pro-Beijing newspaper [[Sing Pao Daily News]] started publishing editorials that criticized [[Tung Chee-hwa]], [[Leung Chun-ying]], [[Zhang Xiaoming]] and [[Jiang Zaizhong]] as another 'Hong Kong's Gang of Four'. The articles claim that although all of them appeared to be loyal to Beijing, they were actually betraying it and destabilizing Hong Kong for their personal interest, by igniting social and political conflicts, as well as through other mischievous means.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loh |first=Christine |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1064543683 |title=Underground front : the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong |date=2018 |isbn=978-988-8455-79-9 |edition=Second |location=Hong Kong |oclc=1064543683}}</ref>

In 2019, Chinese state media labelled Anson Chan, Martin Lee, Jimmy Lai and [[Albert Ho]] as yet another 'Gang of Four of Hong Kong' due to their alleged collusion with foreign forces in relation to the [[2019–2020 Hong Kong protests]].<ref name=ftgang>{{cite news |title=Hong Kong's 'Gang of Four' hits back at Beijing |url=https://www.ft.com/content/d7e73864-c3b8-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9 |publisher=FT |date=August 22, 2019 |quote=Official Communist Party of China mouthpieces have run editorials over several days labelling the four individuals as Hong Kong's "Gang of Four", a chilling reference to four party members who rose to prominence during China's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s before being charged with treason. |access-date=August 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825072013/https://www.ft.com/content/d7e73864-c3b8-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9 |archive-date=August 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=bloomberggang>{{cite news |title=China Compares Hong Kong Democrats to Mao-Era 'Gang of Four' |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/china-compares-hong-kong-s-democrats-to-mao-era-gang-of-four |agency=Bloomberg |publisher=Bloomberg |date=August 19, 2019 |access-date=August 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830080406/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-19/china-compares-hong-kong-s-democrats-to-mao-era-gang-of-four |archive-date=August 30, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The phrase has in turn been denounced by the four individuals.<ref name=ftgang/>

==See also==
* Soviet Union's [[Anti-Party Group]]
* Poland's [[Natolin faction]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25369654 "Trial of China's Gang of Four"], BBC

{{Cultural Revolution}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Gang of Four| ]]
[[Category:Cultural Revolution]]
[[Category:Factions of the Chinese Communist Party]]
[[Category:Cold War history of China]]
[[Category:Maoist terminology]]