As Beijing readies itself for the 17th Party Congress, much of the gossip, I mean analysis and speculation, is focused on who will be put in a position to take over power when Hu Jintao retires in five years.
Ah, for the good old days of a major natural disaster portending the death of the leader, followed by a hastily played game of “last man standing,” the rounding up of your political enemies, and the printing of new posters, new stationary, and a giant framed oil painting of yourself hanging in a square.
I’ve been fascinated with the career of Hua Guofeng, who was paramount leader of China for about 18 minutes in the mid-1970s, since I began studying Chinese history. I would stare at my professors’ notes on the board:
1949-1976 Mao Zedong 1978-present Deng Xiaoping.
“Wait,” I thought, “What about 1976-1978?”
That was Hua. And it’s not like he wasn’t a big deal. The man had his own personality cult (sorta) and everything.
The problem was that everybody forgets about Hua. Sure he ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four, but then what? After the chaos and tragedies of the Cultural Revolution, it seems his colleagues really