Smashing the Gang of Four

October 1976 coup d'état in China

The Smashing of the Gang of Four (also known as the Huairen Hall incident, the Huairen Hall coup, or the October 6 Coup) was a bloodless coup d'état in Zhongnanhai, Beijing, on 6 October 1976, in which Premier Hua Guofeng joined forces with Central Military Commission Vice Chairmen Ye Jianying and Wang Dongxing, together with other important figures in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the government and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), to arrest and detain the Gang of Four as well as Mao Yuanxin, Mao Zedong's nephew who acted as his liaison to the Central Committee. In the early morning of the next day, Hua Guofeng was elected as acting chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and acting chairman of the Central Military Commission at a secret enlarged meeting of the Politburo, ending the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao. Later, the Gang of Four and their followers were subjected to political purges, with some being criminally prosecuted.

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