Hua Guofeng, 87, Who Led China After Mao, Dies
Published: August 20, 2008
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 short stint as China’s top leader, died Wednesday in Beijing at 87, the state-controlled media reported.
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. But Mr. Hua was a bridge between the excesses of Mao’s personality cult and the more pragmatic government of Deng, easing China out of the paranoia and isolation that characterized the final years under Mao.
In one of the first moves during his chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party and prime minister just after Mao died, Mr. Hua’s security forces arrested the Gang of Four, including Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, effectively ending the decade-long Cultural Revolution. 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. Hua also presided over initial attempts to reinvigorate the state-directed economy, revive the education system and allow urban residents banished to the countryside during Mao’s reign to return to their homes.
But he never managed to put his own stamp on policy in the post-Mao era, and his time in power was brief. His influence evaporated by the end of 1978, and he was stripped of his leadership positions in 1980 and 1981. 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. But although Deng first reduced Mr. Hua’s influence and then eclipsed him, Mr. Hua helped hold the ruling party together during what might have been a more volatile political transition.
Deng and his allies undertook the gradual but ultimately transformative market-oriented economic changes that a quarter century later have made China a major economic power, showcasing its industrial might, explosive urban growth and national pride to the world during the Olympic Games.
The consensus that has emerged is that Mr. Hua, despite his powerful titles, played a minor role in shaping that outcome, but that he also did not try to suppress the wing of the ruling party that supported faster change.
“He was more a figure who was there when Chinese politics pivoted than himself being a pivotal figure,” said Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a political scientist and China specialist at the University of Michigan. “He succeeded Mao briefly because he was a guy nobody felt could dominate, so he didn’t set off alarm bells in any camp.”
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. Only in the months before Mao’s death did he elevate Mr. Hua to top positions in the government and the Chinese Communist Party.
Mr. Hua’s greatest virtue for Mao appears to have been personal loyalty. 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.
Mr. 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. Mr. Hua was a senior official in Hunan Province with experience in the county and shrewdly backed Mao against Mr. Peng, who was quickly purged.
The state-run newspaper People’s Daily later wrote, “In the course of this struggle, Comrade Hua Guofeng bravely stood the storm and resolutely protected and implemented Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line and policies.”
Mao’s agricultural policies played a central role in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese from famine in the early 1960s. But Mr. Hua moved up the ranks of the Communist Party and came to international attention in early 1975, when he was named minister of public security.
He became acting prime minister in January 1976, succeeding Zhou Enlai. 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. 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. 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 was increasing marginalized in this new order. As the pace of change picked up, he was accused of slavishly adhering to the so-called two whatevers: whatever Mao said was right and whatever Mao did was right.
Having lost most of his influence by the end of 1978, Mr. Hua gave up the post of prime minister to Zhao Ziyang, one of Deng’s protégés, in September 1980. Mr. Hua was forced to relinquish his positions as chairman of the Communist Party and the central military commission in June 1981, and was succeeded in these posts by Hu Yaobang and Deng, respectively. Mr. Hua resigned from the Politburo in September 1982.
Mr. Hua is said to have married and had four children, but little is known outside China about his family.
Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong and William J. Wellman from New York.
中國前領導人華國鋒逝世
中
國官方媒體週三報導﹐前中國國家領導人華國鋒當日因病去世﹐享年87歲。華國鋒作為毛澤東的接班人曾擔任國家領導人﹐後來被鄧小平取代﹐並拉開了中國改革開放的序幕。
中國中央電視台(CCTV)表示﹐華國鋒因病醫治無效去世﹐但沒有透露具體病情。
AFP/Getty Images
中國官方通訊社在1976年11月發表
的一張華國鋒照片
毛澤東逝世後﹐華國鋒於1976年9月上台執政﹔但他的權力隨後逐步喪失﹐兩年後鄧小平控制了實權。1981年華國鋒被迫辭去中國共產黨中央主席職務﹐此後退居幕後。
與 中共早些時候失勢領導人被流放偏遠山村的殘酷權力鬥爭結果所不同﹐華國鋒讓位後仍然保留了中共中央委員職位。在華國鋒執政後不久﹐毛澤東遺孀江青和"四人 幫"的其他成員即遭到逮捕﹐也標誌著1966-76年文化大革命(Cultural Revolution)結束。但外界並不清楚華國鋒在逮捕四人幫過程中扮演的角色。
華國鋒被迫辭去中共領導人職務時﹐據稱其中的一個原因是他繼續擁護文化大革命時期的極端激進思想。
華國鋒1921年出生於一個貧窮的家庭﹐15歲參加毛澤東領導下的共產黨游擊隊。那時候﹐中國共產黨正與當時統治中國的蔣介石國民黨政府進行鬥爭。
1949 年中共建國後﹐華國鋒先後擔任了省政府和黨內職務﹐隨後於1969年進入中共中央委員會。次年﹐華國鋒出任毛澤東家鄉湖南省的省委書記。1975年他被任 命為副總理﹐隨後接替周恩來出任總理。在毛澤東逝世後中共黨內各派相互奪權的情況下﹐華國鋒上台執政成為了一個折衷選擇。
中共官方媒體將華國鋒稱為"英明領袖"﹐稱謂較毛澤東的"偉大領袖"稍低。
在華國鋒上台執政時﹐中國還處於文化大革命中。逮捕四人幫象徵著中國這段動蕩和自我孤立時期的結束。
1978年華國鋒對東歐進行了訪問﹐引起外界高度關注﹐次年他又訪問了英國。不過鄧小平將華國鋒視為推動經濟改革的障礙﹐已經開始著手作準備取代他。鄧小平在毛澤東晚年遭到排擠﹐但於1977年7月恢復了正式職務。
在1978年12月的一次中共會議上﹐華國鋒失去了實權。那次會議通過了鄧小平提出的"改革開放"政策﹐將土地承包責任制合法化﹐邁出了中國市場經濟改革的第一步。
本文譯自美聯社(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
