Hua Guofeng

华国锋
Hua Guofeng

Hua Guofeng in 1951
Chairman of the Communist Party of China
In office
7 October 1976 - 28 June 1981
(&00000000000000040000004 years, &0000000000000264000000264 days)
President Post abolished
Premier Himself
Deputy Ye Jianying
Preceded by Mao Zedong
Succeeded by Hu Yaobang
Premier of the People's Republic of China
In office
4 February 1976 - September 1980
Deputy Deng Xiaoping
Preceded by Zhou Enlai
Succeeded by Zhao Ziyang
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of CPC
In office
6 October 1976 - 28 June 1981
Preceded by Mao Zedong
Succeeded by Deng Xiaoping
Born 16 February 1921(1921-02-16)
Jiaocheng, Shanxi, Republic of China
Died 20 August 2008(2008-08-20) (aged 87)
Beijing, People's Republic of China
Nationality Chinese
Political party Communist Party of China
Spouse(s) Han Zhijun (韩芝俊)
Signature
Hua Guofeng
Traditional Chinese 華國鋒
Simplified Chinese 华国锋
alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 華主席
Simplified Chinese 华主席

Su Zhu (simplified Chinese: 苏铸; traditional Chinese: 蘇鑄; pinyin: Sū Zhù) (16 February 1921 – 20 August 2008), better known by the nom de guerre Hua Guofeng (simplified Chinese: 华国锋; traditional Chinese: 華國鋒; pinyin: Huà Guófēng; Wade–Giles: Hua Kuo-feng), 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 the second 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. Hua, as Hunan Party Secretary, was credited for his 1968 use of the PLA to quell the red guards and restore order, though at the cost of many deaths.

Contents

Early life

Born in Jiaocheng, Shanxi province, Hua 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 "Zhonghua kangri jiuguo xianfengdui" (中華抗日救國先鋒隊, Chinese Resistance against Japan Nation-saving Vanguard). After having served in the 8th Route Army during 12 years under General Zhu De's command,[1] he became propaganda chief for the county Party committee in 1947.

Hua moved with the PLA to Hunan in 1949 and remained there as a local official until 1971. In 1952, he was appointed secretary of Xiang-tan Special District, which included Mao's hometown, Shaoshan. In this role, he built a memorial hall dedicated to Mao. When Mao visited the site, in June 1959, he was favorably impressed.[2]

Hua participated in the 1959 Lushan Conference as a member of the Hunan Provincial Party delegation, and wrote two investigative reports defending communes and the Great Leap Forward. Shortly thereafter, he was named provincial party secretary.[3] He was elected a Full member of the 9th Central Committee in 1969.

Rise to power

Hua was called to Beijing to direct Zhou Enlai's State Council staff office in 1971, but only stayed for a few months before returning to his previous post in Hunan.[4] Later that year, he was appointed as the junior-most person of the seven-member committee investigating the Lin Biao Affair. Hua was re-elected to the 10th Central Committee in 1973 and elevated to membership in the Politburo. He became minister of public security in 1975 but was also chosen to deliver a speech on modernizing agriculture in October of that year which echoed the views of Zhou Enlai.[5]

Zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976, at a time when Deng Xiaoping's moderate alliance was not yet strong enough to stand up to both the ailing Mao Zedong and his Cultural Revolution allies, the Gang of Four (Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan). After reading the late premier's eulogy a week later, Deng left Beijing along with several close allies for the relative safety of Guangzhou.[6]

As a compromise, Hua Guofeng was named as Acting Premier on 8 February. At the same time, the leftist-controlled media began denouncing Deng once again (he had been purged during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and was only returned to power in 1973). Popular affection for Zhou was underestimated, however, leading to a confrontation between the radicals' militia allies and Beijing citizens seeking to honor Zhou during the traditional Qingming festival.

During the Tiananmen Incident of 1976, thousands of people protested at the militia's removal of wreaths honoring Zhou in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Vehicles were burned, offices ransacked and there were reports of many injuries but no deaths.[7] In the aftermath, Deng Xiaoping was blamed for inciting the protests and stripped of all his party and government posts, albeit his party membership was retained at Mao's behest. Shortly thereafter, Hua was elevated to First Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Committee and Premier of the State Council.

On 6 October, less than a month after Mao's death, anti-Gang of Four leaders with Hua at its core executed a coup d'état and arrested Jiang Qing and her followers. On the same day, Hua Guofeng assumed the posts of Chairman of the CCP and the Military Affairs Commission shortly after the death of Mao Zedong.

Chairman

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. Hua's economic and political programs 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 late 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 and 1978 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 and the Chinese Communist Party, as the tone switched from being war-rallying to purely communist propaganda. These lyrics were eventually rejected.

On October 1979, Hua went on a European tour, the first of its kind of a Chinese leader after 1949. He travelled to West Germany and France. On 28 October Hua visited Great Britain and met with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. The two engaged in friendly talks and discussed the future of Hong Kong. Hua also went to a farm in Oxfordshire and visited Oxford University.[8]

Hua was one of the last foreigners to visit The Shah of Iran before he was overthrown in 1979.[9]

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 mandatory 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, Hua officially lost his seat on the Central Committee of the CCP.[10] He was, however, invited to the 17th Party Congress in 2007 as a special delegate.[11]

Despite retaining formal party positions, Hua distanced himself from contemporary Chinese politics. His main hobby was grape cultivation, and he kept up with current affairs by subscribing to a host of newspapers. Hua's health deteriorated in 2008, and he was hospitalised three times for kidney- and heart-related complications.[12] Hua died in Beijing on 20 August 2008.[13] As his death occurred during the festive Beijing Olympics, it was not given much attention on state media. As Hua was a leader who had committed "political errors", he was not granted the same kind of funeral rites as other paramount leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Family

Hua married wife Han Zhijun in January 1949. Hua had four children, all of whom are surnamed "Su", in accordance with Hua's birth name. First son Su Hua is a retired Air Force officer. Second son Su Bin is a retired army officer. Daughter Su Ling is a party and union official at the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Youngest daughter Su Li works for the State Council.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Palmowski, Jan: "Hua Guofeng" in A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. Oxford University Press, 2004.
  2. ↑ Wang, James C.F., Contemporary Chinese Politics: An Introduction (Prentice-Hall, New Jersey: 1980), p. 36.
  3. ↑ ibid
  4. ↑ ibid
  5. ↑ ibid, p. 37
  6. ↑ Hollingworth, Clare, Mao and the Men Against Him (Jonathan Cape, London: 1985), p. 291ff
  7. ↑ ibid, p. 297-98
  8. ↑ "1979: Chairman Hua arrives in London". BBC News. 28 October 1979. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/28/newsid_4114000/4114964.stm. Retrieved 27 March 2010. 
  9. ↑ Wright, Robin (17 November 2004). "Iran's New Alliance With China Could Cost U.S. Leverage". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55414-2004Nov16.html. Retrieved 4 May 2010. 
  10. ↑ "Pakistan Daily Times Article". Daily Times. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-11-2002_pg4_1. Retrieved 10 February 2005. 
  11. ↑ "十七大之后拜访华国锋 (Visiting Hua Guofeng after the 17th Congress)". Sohu. http://cul.sohu.com/20080505/n256668060.shtml. Retrieved 22 September 2008. 
  12. ↑ 简单的晚年生活 华国锋远离政治的日子 (A simple late life: Hua Guofeng's days away from politics), China News Weekly, 21 September 2008.
  13. ↑ Keith Bradsher and William J. Wellman, "Hua Guofeng, 87, Who Led China After Mao, Dies", The New York Times, 20 August 2008.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Li Yuan		 Director of the Hunan Revolutionary Committee
1970 — 1976		 Succeeded by
Mao Zhiyong
Preceded by
Li Zhen		 Minister of Public Security of the People's Republic of China
1973–1977		 Succeeded by
Zhao Cangbi
Preceded by
Zhou Enlai		 Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China
Acting until 7 April 1976
1976 — 1980		 Succeeded by
Zhao Ziyang
Party political offices
Preceded by
Wang Yanchun		 Secretary of the CPC Hunan Committee
1967–1970		 Succeeded by
Li Yuan
Preceded by
Li Yuan		 Secretary of the CPC Hunan Committee
1970–1976		 Succeeded by
Mao Zhiyong
Preceded by
None		 First Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China
1976		 Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Mao Zedong		 Chairman of the Communist Party of China
1976–1981		 Succeeded by
Hu Yaobang
Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
1976–1981		 Succeeded by
Deng Xiaoping
Preceded by
Lin Feng		 President of the CPC Central School
1977–1982		 Succeeded by
Wang Zhen
Preceded by
Hu Yaobang, Li Xiannian, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Wang Dongxing		 Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China
Served alongside: Li Xiannian, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Wang Dongxing, Zhao Ziyang
1981–1982		 Succeeded by
None