Hua Guofeng

Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and also served as premier of China. Born in Jiaocheng, Shanxi, he fought as a guerrilla in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, rose to lead Hunan province during the Cultural Revolution and became Minister of Public Security in 1973. Mao made him premier and first vice chairman after Zhou Enlai's death in January 1976, and in October 1976, a month after Mao's death, Hua had the Gang of Four arrested. Still committed to the Maoist line and a command economy, he was gradually forced from power by Deng Xiaoping and his supporters between December 1978 and June 1981.