What was the succession crisis under Mao Zedong, and how did it culminate in his death and the post-1976 settlement?
The succession crisis of Mao's last decade, including the rise and fall of Lin Biao, the rise of Deng Xiaoping and the moderates, the rise of the Gang of Four, the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in 1976, and the arrest of the Gang of Four
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Mao's succession crisis. The 1969 elevation of Lin Biao, the September 13 1971 incident, the 1973 rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping, the Gang of Four, Zhou Enlai's death on 8 January 1976, Mao's death on 9 September 1976, and the arrest of the Gang of Four on 6 October 1976.
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What this dot point is asking
NESA expects you to outline the succession politics from the 1969 Ninth Congress to the 1976 Hua Guofeng coup, and to assess the contributing factors: Mao's failing health, the rivalry between the Gang of Four and the moderates around Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, and the absence of an institutionalised succession.
The answer
Lin Biao's elevation and fall, 1969 to 1971
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.
Tensions arose at the Second Plenum of the Ninth CC at Lushan (23 August to 6 September 1970). Lin and Chen Boda pushed for the restoration of the State Chairmanship, which Mao had abolished after Liu Shaoqi's purge; Mao read this as a Lin bid for state power. Mao counter-attacked by criticising Chen Boda in late 1970 and reorganising military commanders in early 1971.
The official narrative of the "September 13 Incident" is that Lin Biao and his son Lin Liguo (an air force officer) plotted Mao's assassination, with the "571 Project Outline" recovered as evidence. The plot was betrayed by Lin Liguo's sister Lin Doudou through Zhou Enlai. Mao changed his train schedule on 11 to 12 September 1971 to avoid the alleged ambush. Lin Biao, Ye Qun, Lin Liguo, and six staff died on 13 September 1971 when their Trident jet crashed near Ondorhaan in Mongolia, out of fuel. Whether they were genuinely fleeing remains debated; the regime declared them traitors.
The September 13 Incident shattered the Cultural Revolution narrative. The previous Constitution's "successor" was now a traitor. Mao's health declined visibly from 1972.
Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping's revival, 1972 to 1975
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.
Mao recalled Deng Xiaoping from internal exile in Jiangxi in March 1973. Deng resumed as Vice Premier. Zhou's NPC Government Work Report of 13 January 1975 proclaimed the Four Modernisations (agriculture, industry, national defence, science and technology) as the goal for the year 2000. The Tenth Congress (August 1973) saw rehabilitated cadres restored and the Gang of Four's Wang Hongwen elevated to Vice Chairman, a 38-year-old Shanghai factory rebel promoted to balance the rehabilitations.
Zhou Enlai entered hospital in May 1974 with bladder cancer. Deng Xiaoping ran the State Council from 1975. The Politburo standing committee of the Tenth Congress was Mao, Zhou, Wang Hongwen, Kang Sheng, Ye Jianying, Li Desheng, Zhu De, Zhang Chunqiao, and Dong Biwu.
The Gang of Four, 1973 to 1976
The Gang of Four (Si ren bang) consisted of:
- Jiang Qing, Mao's fourth wife (married 1939). Former Shanghai actress; chair of the Central Cultural Revolution Group from 1966. Sponsor of the Eight Model Operas.
- Zhang Chunqiao, Shanghai propagandist; theoretician.
- Yao Wenyuan, the original Hai Rui critic; propaganda chief.
- Wang Hongwen, the Shanghai worker promoted to Vice Chairman in 1973.
The Gang controlled propaganda, Shanghai's local administration, and parts of the militia. The Criticise Lin and Criticise Confucius (Pi Lin Pi Kong) campaign of 1973 to 1974 used historical allegory to attack Zhou Enlai (Confucius standing for the Premier).
In 1975 the Water Margin Campaign (criticising Song Jiang as a capitulator) was a further allegorical attack. Mao's view of the Gang was ambiguous; he criticised them privately ("Do not form a four-person clique") but protected them.
1976: the year of crisis
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.
The Tiananmen Incident of 5 April 1976 was declared a "counter-revolutionary incident". Deng Xiaoping was blamed and purged again on 7 April 1976. Hua Guofeng was elevated to First Vice Chairman of the CCP and Premier on the same day.
The Tangshan earthquake of 28 July 1976 killed at least 240,000 (PRC official) to 600,000 (some estimates) in northern China. In Chinese tradition the loss of the Mandate of Heaven is signalled by such disasters.
Zhu De died on 6 July 1976.
Mao Zedong died on 9 September 1976 at 00:10 local time after several months of unconsciousness, having suffered amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a series of cardiac events.
The arrest of the Gang of Four, 6 October 1976
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.
Hua Guofeng announced the arrests on 7 October 1976 and was confirmed Chairman of the CCP and the Central Military Commission. Hua's slogan of the "Two Whatevers" (Liang ge fanshi, "whatever Mao said, we uphold; whatever Mao directed, we follow") prefigured his struggle with Deng Xiaoping. Deng was rehabilitated in July 1977; the Third Plenum of the Eleventh CC in December 1978 made Deng the effective paramount leader.
The Gang of Four were tried in 1980 to 1981. Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao received suspended death sentences; Yao Wenyuan got 20 years; Wang Hongwen got life. Jiang Qing committed suicide on 14 May 1991.
Timeline
| Date | Event | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 1969 | Ninth Congress | Lin Biao named successor |
| Aug to Sep 1970 | Lushan Plenum | Lin v Mao on State Chair |
| 13 Sep 1971 | Lin Biao crash | Successor lost |
| 21 to 28 Feb 1972 | Nixon visit | Zhou's standing |
| Mar 1973 | Deng restored | Vice Premier |
| Aug 1973 | Tenth Congress | Wang Hongwen elevated |
| 13 Jan 1975 | Four Modernisations | Zhou's vision |
| 8 Jan 1976 | Zhou Enlai dies | Succession opens |
| 7 Feb 1976 | Hua Acting Premier | Bypass Deng |
| 5 Apr 1976 | Tiananmen Incident | Deng purged |
| 7 Apr 1976 | Hua First Vice Chairman | Mao's choice |
| 28 Jul 1976 | Tangshan earthquake | Mandate loss |
| 9 Sep 1976 | Mao dies | End of era |
| 6 Oct 1976 | Gang of Four arrested | Coup |
| Dec 1978 | Third Plenum | Deng paramount |
Historiography
Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals (Mao's Last Revolution, 2006) gave the canonical narrative of the succession.
Frederick Teiwes and Warren Sun (The End of the Maoist Era, 2007) drew on PRC archive openings to revise the late-Mao elite politics, including a sympathetic re-reading of Hua Guofeng.
Yan Jiaqi and Gao Gao (Turbulent Decade, 1986; English 1996) is the dissident-historian account.
Ezra Vogel (Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, 2011) gave the standard Western account from Deng's side.
Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (2005) emphasised Mao's personal manipulation.
Common exam traps
Treating Hua Guofeng as a transitional figure. 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.
Forgetting Wang Dongxing. The 8341 Unit commander made the arrests possible.
Misdating Mao's death. 9 September 1976, not 6 September or 9 October.
In one sentence
Mao Zedong's succession crisis ran from the Ninth Congress of April 1969 that named Lin Biao successor, through the September 13 1971 incident in which Lin died fleeing Mao, the revival of Premier Zhou Enlai and the rehabilitation of Deng Xiaoping (1973) against the Gang of Four (Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen), and culminated in 1976 with Zhou's death on 8 January, the Tiananmen Incident of 5 April, Deng's second purge, Hua Guofeng's elevation, the Tangshan earthquake of 28 July, Mao's death on 9 September, and the arrest of the Gang of Four by Hua, Ye Jianying, and Wang Dongxing on 6 October 1976.
Past exam questions, worked
Real questions from past NESA papers on this dot point, with our answer explainer.
Practice (NESA)10 marksAccount for the succession crisis under Mao Zedong from 1971 to 1976.Show worked answer →
A 10-mark "account for" needs causes and dynamics.
Lin Biao's collapse. The Ninth Party Constitution (April 1969) named Lin Biao "Mao's close comrade-in-arms and successor". Tensions over the State Chairmanship at the 1970 Lushan Plenum, and Lin's diminishing access to Mao, led to the September 13 1971 incident in which Lin, his wife Ye Qun, and his son Lin Liguo died in a Trident crash at Ondorhaan, Mongolia, allegedly fleeing to the Soviet Union.
Zhou Enlai's revival. With Lin gone, Premier Zhou Enlai consolidated against the Gang of Four (Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen). Zhou's Four Modernisations (agriculture, industry, defence, science) was announced in his 13 January 1975 NPC report.
Deng Xiaoping rehabilitated. Zhou recalled Deng in 1973 as Vice Premier; from 1975 Deng was acting Premier as Zhou's health failed.
Wang Hongwen and the Gang of Four. Wang Hongwen, a 38-year-old Shanghai factory worker promoted by Mao to Vice Chairman in 1973, was the Gang's frontman. The Criticise Lin Criticise Confucius campaign of 1973 to 1974 attacked Zhou through allegory.
1976. Zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976. The Tiananmen Incident of 5 April 1976, public mourning that turned into protest against the Gang, led to Deng's purge again and Hua Guofeng's elevation as First Vice Chairman. Mao died on 9 September 1976. Hua Guofeng, Marshal Ye Jianying, and Wang Dongxing arrested the Gang of Four on 6 October 1976.
Markers reward Lin Biao 13 September 1971, Zhou's Four Modernisations, Deng's 1973 recall, Tiananmen 5 April 1976, Mao's death 9 September, and the 6 October arrest.
Related dot points
- Mao's Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, including the May 16 Notice, the Red Guards, the persecution of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, the rise of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four, the Down to the Countryside Movement, and the long political and human consequences
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Mao's Cultural Revolution. The May 16 Notice of 1966, the Red Guard movement and the eight Tiananmen rallies, the persecution of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, the 1971 Lin Biao incident, the Gang of Four, the Down to the Countryside Movement, and 1.5 to 3 million deaths.
- Mao's death on 9 September 1976, the Hua Guofeng interregnum, the rise of Deng Xiaoping and the reform settlement, the 1981 Resolution's verdict that Mao was 70 percent correct and 30 percent in error, the continuing place of Mao in PRC public space, and his contested place in modern Chinese history
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Mao's death and legacy. The 9 September 1976 death, the Mao Mausoleum opened in September 1977, Hua Guofeng's Two Whatevers, the 1978 Third Plenum and Deng Xiaoping's reform turn, the 1981 Resolution finding Mao 70 percent correct, and Mao's continuing presence at Tiananmen and on the renminbi.
- The historiography of Mao Zedong, including the early Western journalism of Edgar Snow, the Cold War sinology of Stuart Schram, the New Left sympathetic accounts, the official PRC 70 to 30 verdict of 1981, the post-archive revisionism of Jung Chang and Frank Dikoetter, and the sociological and institutional approaches of Andrew Walder and Roderick MacFarquhar
A focused answer to the HSC Modern History Personality dot point on Mao historiography. Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China (1937), Stuart Schram's biography (1966), Mark Selden's New Left Yan'an Way, the 1981 CCP Resolution, Maurice Meisner's standard synthesis, Jung Chang and Halliday's Mao: The Unknown Story (2005), Frank Dikoetter's People's Trilogy, and Andrew Walder's institutional sociology.