Former Chinese Communist Party leader Hua Guofeng died on 20 Aug., 2008. He was 87.
Hua took over the communist party leadership after Mao Zedong’s death and quickly overturned the so-called Gang of Four and ended the Cultural Revolution.
Hua was criticized as following Mao too closely and being too leftist and his leadership of the party lasted only two years before Deng Xiaoping took power.
In 1981 he resigned and Deng took over, although Hua remained in the circles of power for some time after.
Hua was last seen in public in October, 2007, for the Communist Party’s 17th meeting.
The communist party’s media mouthpiece, Xinhua, has only spared 200 words to report Hua’s death, and there is no detail on the cause of death.
Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second-largest newspaper, reported that Hua was disenchanted with the Chinese Communist Party and resigned from it before his death.
There are reports by Hong Kong media that Hua was the illegitimate son of Mao Zedong—a speculation the Communist Party has not confirmed or denied.
