Gang of Four

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[2] and Hua's gradual loss of authority.

[4] 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 Wenhuibao criticizing the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office.

[1] 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 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.

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).

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.

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.

[12] 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.

Han Suyin gave a detailed account of their overthrow: An emergency session of the Politburo was to take place in the Great Hall of the People that evening.

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.

[20] 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.

[21]: 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.

[27] 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.

[28] 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.