🎭 Jiang Qing
Mao's wife and a former actress. She took charge of the arts during the Cultural Revolution, banning most plays, films and music and putting only a few approved works on stage.
China, 1976-89 » The Rise and Fall of the Gang of Four
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B4, Key topic 5
- Who the Gang of Four were and how they gained power
- The struggle over who would rule China after 1976
- How the Gang was arrested and put on trial
- How Deng Xiaoping returned to power
Mao Zedong died in September 1976. For years, a group of his closest supporters had held great power in his name. Within weeks they were in prison. This lesson explains how they rose, how they fell, and who took over.
Key terms:
- Gang of Four: the nickname for four radical Party leaders, Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, who were blamed for the worst of the Cultural Revolution.
- Radicals: leaders who wanted the Cultural Revolution to continue and who opposed Deng's ideas of practical economic growth.
- Rehabilitate: to restore a person who has been disgraced to their old position and good name.
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Unlock This CourseWho were the Gang of Four?
📝 Yao Wenyuan
A writer and critic. His article of 1965 attacking a play helped to start the Cultural Revolution.
🏢 Zhang Chunqiao
A leader in Shanghai, where radicals seized power in 1967. He later became a vice-premier.
🏭 Wang Hongwen
A young Shanghai factory worker who rose fast in the Cultural Revolution. In 1973 he became a vice-chairman of the Party.
They had no army behind them. Their power came from Mao's favour and from their hold on the newspapers, radio and the arts. They used these to attack moderate leaders, such as Deng Xiaoping, as followers of the “capitalist road”.
Deng Xiaoping and the struggle for power
Deng had been removed in the Cultural Revolution. In 1973 Premier Zhou Enlai, a moderate, brought him back. By 1975 Deng was running the government day to day and was trying to rebuild industry and the economy. The Gang saw him as a threat and tried to turn Mao against him.
In January 1976 Zhou Enlai died. Many ordinary people respected him and mourned. In early April, crowds laid wreaths for Zhou in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The authorities cleared the square, and there was some fighting. The radicals blamed Deng, and Mao agreed that he should lose all his posts. Hua Guofeng, a loyal Party official who was neither a radical nor a close friend of Deng, became premier. (This 1976 protest is not the same as the Tiananmen Square events of 1989, which come later in this study.)
On 9 September 1976 Mao died. The radicals, led by Jiang Qing, hoped to keep control. Hua Guofeng, the premier and Mao's chosen successor, and army leaders such as Marshal Ye Jianying, feared that the radicals would seize power.
The arrest and trial
On 6 October 1976, less than a month after Mao's death, the four were arrested. Hua, with the support of army leaders and the guards who protected the leaders, acted quickly and there was no fighting. The people were told that the Gang had plotted to take power. Many celebrated in the streets. The next day Hua became Party Chairman.
The Party blamed the Gang for much of the suffering of the Cultural Revolution. This was convenient, because it let the Party avoid blaming Mao himself. In November 1980 the four were put on trial in Beijing, along with some supporters of Lin Biao, the army leader who had died in 1971. The trial was shown to the public on television. The sentences came in January 1981:
- Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao: death, with a two-year delay that was later changed to life in prison.
- Wang Hongwen: life in prison.
- Yao Wenyuan: 20 years in prison.
The return of Deng Xiaoping
Hua Guofeng ended the Cultural Revolution in 1976, but he kept praising Mao's policies and did not want to change much. Many Party leaders thought China needed a new direction. In July 1977 Deng was rehabilitated and given back his main posts. In December 1978 a Party meeting backed a new focus on economic growth, and Deng became China's leading figure. Hua lost his posts as premier in 1980 and as Party Chairman in 1981.
Deng never took the top title for himself, but from the late 1970s he made the most important decisions. His reforms are the topic of the next lessons.
Change and continuity
Change: the radicals who had ruled culture and the media were gone, and a leader who wanted practical economic growth now ran China.
Continuity: the Communist Party still held all the power. The Party controlled the trial, and Mao himself was not put on trial.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes
- Saying Mao's death was the end of the Cultural Revolution. The arrest of the Gang on 6 October 1976 is the usual end date.
- Mixing up the 1976 protest in Tiananmen Square with the 1989 events.
- Writing that Deng took over at once. Hua Guofeng led China first, and Deng became the main figure by 1978.
- Writing that the Gang were all in the army. Their power came from Mao's favour and their hold on the media and the arts.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which the position of the Gang of Four in 1974, when Wang Hongwen was a Party vice-chairman and Jiang Qing controlled the arts, was different from their position in 1977. [6 marks]
Model answer
One way is their power. In 1974 the Gang of Four held great influence, because Mao backed them and Wang Hongwen was a vice-chairman of the Party. Jiang Qing controlled the arts. By 1977 they had no power at all, because Hua Guofeng and army leaders had arrested them in October 1976 and held them in prison.
A second way is their standing with the public. In 1974 their control of the newspapers and radio meant that they could attack rivals like Deng Xiaoping. By 1977 they were blamed for the suffering of the Cultural Revolution. Crowds had celebrated their arrest, and Deng, whom they had attacked, was back in office in July 1977.
What lifts this to the top level: each way says something about both 1974 and 1977, with specific facts on each side.
Exam tip
In a similarity or difference question, write about both periods inside each paragraph. A paragraph about one period only cannot show a comparison.
Recap
- The Gang of Four were Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen.
- They gained power from Mao's favour and their hold on the media and the arts.
- After Zhou Enlai's death in January 1976, Deng was dismissed and Hua Guofeng became premier.
- Mao died on 9 September 1976, and the four were arrested on 6 October.
- They were tried in 1980-81. Deng returned in 1977 and became the leading figure by 1978.