Hua Guofeng

Hua Guofeng (华国锋 Pinyin: Huá Guōfēng) (born 1921, to the surprise and dismay of Jiang Qing and the rest of the Gang of Four, became the Chairman and undisputed leader of the People's Republic of China following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, as designated by Mao himself.

Born in Jiaocheng (交城县), a county beside a mountain in Shanxi, Hua joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1938 as a part of counter-Japanese resistance.

He became Premier of the People's Republic of China following Zhou Enlai's death, in January 1976, and Chairman of the Communist Party of China when Mao died, in September 1976.

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 official end to the Cultural Revolution. As Deng Xiaoping gradually regained control over the CPC, Hua was replaced by Zhao Ziyang as Premier in 1980, and by Hu Yaobang as Party Chairman in 1981.