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NSWModern HistoryQuick questions
Section III (Personalities): Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China
Quick questions on Mao's succession crisis and death: HSC Modern History Personality
10short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is lin Biao's elevation and fall, 1969 to 1971?Show answer
The Ninth CCP Congress (1 to 24 April 1969) wrote Lin Biao into the Party Constitution as "Chairman Mao's close comrade-in-arms and successor". Lin had compiled the Quotations from Chairman Mao (the Little Red Book) in 1964 and led the army loyalty to Mao through the Cultural Revolution. His military "Long March generation" cronies (Huang Yongsheng, Wu Faxian, Li Zuopeng, Qiu Huizuo) controlled the PLA general staff.
What is zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping's revival, 1972 to 1975?Show answer
With Lin gone, Premier Zhou Enlai consolidated his position. The Nixon visit (21 to 28 February 1972) and the Shanghai Communique gave Zhou international standing. Zhou rehabilitated cadres purged in the Cultural Revolution; about 75 percent of senior pre-1966 officials were eventually restored.
What is the Gang of Four, 1973 to 1976?Show answer
The Gang of Four (Si ren bang) consisted of:
What is 1976?Show answer
Zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976. Hua Guofeng (Public Security Minister) was named Acting Premier on 7 February, bypassing Deng and the Gang of Four. The 1976 spring Qingming Festival saw spontaneous mourning at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen. On 4 to 5 April 1976 about 2 million people in Beijing left wreaths and poems many of which attacked the Gang of Four. The Beijing militia cleared the square on the night of 4 to 5 April 1976; clashes followed.
What is the arrest of the Gang of Four, 6 October 1976?Show answer
On 6 October 1976 Hua Guofeng, Marshal Ye Jianying (Defence Minister), and Wang Dongxing (head of the 8341 Unit, the Central Guards) executed a swift arrest of Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen. Mao Yuanxin (Mao's nephew and liaison) and other Gang associates were also arrested. The action was a CCP elite coup that ended the Cultural Revolution.
What is historiography?Show answer
Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals (Mao's Last Revolution, 2006) gave the canonical narrative of the succession.
What is zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976?Show answer
Hua Guofeng (Public Security Minister) was named Acting Premier on 7 February, bypassing Deng and the Gang of Four. The 1976 spring Qingming Festival saw spontaneous mourning at the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen. On 4 to 5 April 1976 about 2 million people in Beijing left wreaths and poems many of which attacked the Gang of Four.
What is treating Hua Guofeng as a transitional figure?Show answer
Hua was Chairman from 1976 to 1981 and his role in the 6 October arrest was decisive. Modern scholarship is more sympathetic than the 1980s view.
What is forgetting Wang Dongxing?Show answer
The 8341 Unit commander made the arrests possible.
What is misdating Mao's death?Show answer
9 September 1976, not 6 September or 9 October.