Word: hua
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Shanghai Mafia. What it all added up to was one of the most climactic episodes in China's recent history. Almost overnight, Premier Hua Kuo-feng, only last year a relatively unknown official, succeeded Mao Tse-tung as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao's widow, Chiang Ch'ing, leader of the party's radical faction, was arrested, along with three of her closest allies. With Hua in power and the radicals in disgrace, China's moderate faction, backed by the army, seemed to have scored an astonishing triumph, one that may set China...
...begun. Indeed, the first rumors of Mme. Mao's arrest seemed so implausible that Peking-based foreign reporters were afraid to cable them out. There was no open violence during the upheaval, no street fighting or troop movements, only a series of enigmatic wall posters praising Hua and appealing for unity. Day after day, fleets of limousines converged on the Great Hall of the People for what was believed to be a Central Committee meeting devoted to the confirmation of Hua's accession to the position of supreme power...
...purge. None of the radicals appeared at Peking's airport when visiting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare arrived, giving further credence to the tale of their arrest. None of the four were at Somare's welcoming banquet next day, but neither was Chairman Hua. His ally Li Hsien-nien did the honors and said blandly (or perhaps ironically), "The situation in China is excellent." At this dinner, however, a Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that Hua was the new Chairman...
...incident began to circulate. According to informed East European sources, Chiang Ch'ing had tried, even before the death of Mao, to persuade Peking Regional Military Commander Ch'en Hsi-lien to help her organize a coup d'etat, but Ch'en went and informed Hua of the danger. Another story from Peking claimed that Mao's scheming widow had even launched an abortive attempt to assassinate Hua. Whether these rumors are true, or simply lies leaked by the moderates to justify a pre-emptive move, it is not hard to find reasons...
...Whether Hua is in firm command of the party, and whether the factions have temporarily settled their differences, may become clearer as other appointments are made. Sinologists expect Hua to give up the post of Premier. His logical successor would be Chang Ch'un Ch'iao, about 65, Vice Premier and head of the army's political department...