When Mao forced the creation of large agricultural communes during the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, he was challenged by his more moderate defense minister, Peng Dehuai.Peng accused Mao of having become so out of touch with conditions in the countryside that he did not even know about problems emerging in his home county. Some reports said he resigned from the party for health reasons in 2001, the year he turned 80, but the government did not confirm that.Born to a poor family in 1921, Hua became a guerrilla fighter in Mao's Communist movement at 15 when it was battling for survival against Chiang Kai-shek's ruling Nationalists. Hua and other party conservatives such as Li Xiannian also drafted an ambitious ten-year economic plan which sought to create a Soviet-style economy based around heavy industry and energy, but it was quickly scrapped in favor of a cheaper and more doable five-year plan which prioritized light industry and consumer goods.
"State media did not report the cause of Hua's death, only mentioning an unspecified illness.Mao was reluctant to let strong rivals to his rule emerge, purging able administrators like Deng when they seemed to be developing their own power bases. Some Western scholars now argue that the decision to arrest the Gang of Four was made by elder leaders of the military and internal security forces, and that Mr. Hua went along.But the decision was possibly Mr. Hua’s most lasting achievement, finally ending the influence of Ms. Jiang, Mao’s wife, who was viewed by many Chinese as squandering economic growth and political stability in pursuit of power for herself.Intentionally or not, he also permitted the more pragmatic Deng to emerge as China’s main policy maker. Hua's health deteriorated in 2008, and he was hospitalized for kidney and heart complications. On October 1979, Hua went on a European tour, the first of its kind for a Chinese leader after 1949. Mao confirmed him as prime minister three months later, when Hua also became deputy party chairman. It was reported that he retired voluntarily for age and health reasons, although the party did not officially confirm this.Despite retaining formal party positions, Hua distanced himself from active participation in politics. On the afternoon of September 7, Mao's co… In 1959 he was made provincial party chief.
Mao confirmed Mr. Hua as prime minister three months later, and appointed him deputy chairman of the Communist Party.He succeeded Mao as the party’s chairman when Mao died five months later, and he still held China’s top positions when the Gang of Four was arrested. Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong and William J. Wellman from New York.An official in Mao’s home county, Xiangtan, in Hunan Province in the 1950s, Mr. Hua enjoyed a meteoric rise in the last two years of Mao’s life only to lose power almost as quickly after the death of Mao, his political patron.
The following year, Deng had Hua replaced as party secretary general by Hu Yaobang.Both Zhao and Hu would later be dismissed by Deng - Hu in the mid-1980s after he was blamed for allowing student protests and Zhao after the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations.Hua Guofeng, once chairman of China's Communist Party, dies
Hua's weak personality and continued loyalty to Maoism did not inspire a nation and party leadership weary of the Cultural Revolution, and he quickly came to be seen as a Mao sycophant with no real ideas of his own.
That movement — an attempt by Mao to solidify his totalitarian grasp on the nation and purge Communist Party officials he considered insufficiently loyal to his revolutionary agenda — had left hundreds of thousands of people dead, hundreds of millions of people traumatized and China’s economy in a seemingly irreversible slump.Mr. HONG KONG — Hua Guofeng, who briefly led China after Mao's death in September 1976 but was soon pushed aside by Deng Xiaoping, died Wednesday in Beijing at … He lived the rest of his life in political obscurity in Beijing, although he remained a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee through 1997.Deng, a veteran of China’s revolutionary struggle who had been alternately promoted and punished by Mao during the previous three decades, used his influence in the army and the Communist Party to make a sharper break with Mao than Mr. Hua favored.
Only in the months before his death did Mao elevate Hua to top positions in the government and the Communist Party.Hua's highest virtue for Mao appeared to have been personal loyalty. Mao was the leader of the People's Republic of China since it was created in 1949; He introduced the Great Leap Forward in 1958 Chairman Hua and we are of one heart, 1977. On 6 October 1976, shortly after the death of Mao, Hua removed the Hua attempted moderate reforms and reversing some of the excesses of Cultural Revolution-era policies.
Deng tapped the expertise of more moderate economic planners, who began relaxing the state’s suffocating grip on all commercial activity, especially in southern China.Mr. "Hua Guofeng" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters HONG KONG — Hua Guofeng, who helped steer China out of the chaos of the Cultural Revolution after the death of Mao in 1976, but was pushed aside by Deng Xiaoping after a …