Hua Guofeng

1921-02-16 - 2008-08-20 Contemporaries

Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and premier of China. After the deaths of Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, he held the top offices of the government, party, and military, but was gradually forced out of power between December 1978 and June 1981. He had joined the CCP in 1938, fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Civil War, and rose to the national stage during the Cultural Revolution.