Discover

'Su Zhu' (), known almost universally by his revolutionary pseudonym 'Hua Guofeng' () (born February 16, 1921) was Mao Zedong's designated successor as the paramount leader of the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China. Upon Zhou Enlai's death in 1976, he succeeded him as Premier of the People's Republic of China. Months later, Mao died, and Hua succeeded Mao as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, to the surprise and dismay of Jiang Qing and the rest of the Gang of Four. He brought the Cultural Revolution to an end and ousted the Gang of Four from political power, but because of his insistence on continuing the Maoist line, he was himself outmaneuvered a few years later by Deng Xiaoping, who forced Hua into early retirement.

Contents

Early life

Leadership

Ousting

See also

References

Early life

Born in Jiaocheng, Shanxi province, Hua was born with the name 'Su Zhu' (苏铸). He joined the Communist Party of China (CCP) in 1938 as a part of counter-Japanese resistance, after having joined the Long March in 1936^[1]. Like many Communists of the era who took on revolutionary names, he changed his name to 'Hua Guofeng' as an abbreviation of "''Zhong'hua' kangri jiu'guo' xian'feng'dui''" (中华抗日救国先锋队, Chinese Resistance Nation-saving Vanguard). After having served in the 8th Route Army during 12 years under General Zhu De's command, he became propaganda chief for the county Party committee during the mid-1940s.

Leadership

Hua was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and was elected to the Politburo in 1973. He became minister of public security in 1975. Whether or not he was Mao's chosen successor is still under debate. He became acting Premier of the People's Republic of China following Zhou Enlai's death, in January 1976, full Premier and party first vice chairman in April 1976, and Chairman of the Communist Party of China when Mao died, in September 1976 (although this was not announced to the world until October 12).
During his relatively short leadership, Hua was credited for quickly ousting the Gang of Four from political power and thus became the leader whose emergence marked the end of the Cultural Revolution as currently dated. Hua's economic and political program involved the restoration of Soviet-style industrial planning and party control similar to that followed by China before the Great Leap Forward. However, this model was rejected by supporters of Deng Xiaoping who argued for a more market based economic system. This argument was decisively resolved in Deng's favor in 1978, which is generally taken as the start of the era of Chinese economic reform. Hua also attempted reforming state protocol as a method of elevating his prestige. In 1977 all party meetings were to hang portraits of Mao and Hua side-by-side, including the National People's Congress and CPC Party Congress meetings. All schools were required to hang Hua's picture next to Mao's. Hua also changed the Chinese national anthem to incorporate Mao Zedong, as the tone switched from being war-rallying to purely communist propaganda. These lyrics would eventually be rejected.

Ousting

As Deng Xiaoping gradually gained control over the CCP, Hua was denounced for promoting the Two Whatevers policy and replaced by Zhao Ziyang as Premier in 1980, and by Hu Yaobang as Party Chairman in 1981. Hua gave self-criticism sessions and eventually renounced the Two Whatevers policy as a mistake. Both Zhao and Hu were protégés of Deng who were dedicated to Chinese economic reform. Hua Guofeng was demoted to junior Vice Chairman, and when this post was abolished in 1982 he remained as an ordinary member of the Central Committee, a position which he held until the 16th Party Congress of November 2002 despite having passed the designated retirement age of seventy in 1991.
The ousting of Hua was significant in at least two respects. First it demonstrated the unimportance of official titles in the Chinese Communist Party during the late-1970s and early-1980s. Despite being the official leader of the party, the state, and the army, Hua was unable to defeat a leadership challenge by Deng Xiaoping. Second, Hua's ousting helped establish a norm within the PRC that political leaders who lost a power struggle would not be physically harmed or jailed, in contrast to the situations both during the Cultural Revolution and afterwards with the Gang of Four.
In early 2002, he officially lost his seat on the Central Committee of the CCP.^[2]

See also

★ Politics of the People's Republic of China

★ History of the People's Republic of China (1976-1989)

References

1. Palmowski, Jan: "Hua Guofeng" in ''A Dictionary of Contemporary World History''. Oxford University Press, 2004.
2. Pakistan Daily Times Article