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Benjamin Kang Lim Global Affairs Correspondent In Beijing, Benjamin Kang Lim
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For some Chinese historians, the Mao Zedong era ended with his death on Sept 9, 1976 and the arrest of his widow Jiang Qing and other members of her Gang of Four a month later. The four were eventually jailed for counter-revolutionary crimes.
But there was one holdover who still reigned supreme for the most part of the next five years. Hua Guofeng, Mao's handpicked heir, was not kicked upstairs until the sixth plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in June 1981.
