Word: hua
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What ever happened to Hua Guofeng? That question occupied the center of the Peking stage last week, over shadowing that other current piece of political drama, the trial of the Gang of Four...
...week Hua was the object of a crescendo of speculation by Chinese and foreigners alike that he was being forced to step down as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, theoretically the country's most powerful position. There was no official confirmation - or denial. Nonethe less, it seemed a good bet that some abrupt bit of palace intrigue had indeed toppled Hua from his post, though the change may not formally take place until a party Congress can be convened next year. Hua's most likely successor is a man who has lately been receiving unusually prominent treatment...
...most immediate sign that Chairman Hua is in trouble was that he has not been seen in public for more than three weeks. Last week he even failed to turn up for a visit by a Greek Communist Party delegation; the group was received instead by Hu Yaobang. Hu, like Deng, is one of the few survivors of the Long March. Like Deng, too, the peasant-born Hu has been twice purged and twice rehabilitated. His resurgence was signaled last February when he was named head of a restored party secretariat, a post that gives him control of the party...
...Hua's political demise would mark an unusually rapid rise and fall for such a top-level Chinese leader...
Some analysts felt that there was a connection between Hua's abrupt departure and the Gang of Four trial. According to their theory, Hua may have agreed to step down in exchange for an agreement that his damaging past associations with the "evil gang" would not surface during the trial's proceedings. More likely, Hua may have recently collided with Deng's faction over the quickening pace of de-Maoization, which Hua is known to oppose...