Page "History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)" Paragraph 42

The ideological struggle between more pragmatic, veteran party officials and the radicals re-emerged with a vengeance in late 1975.

The Gang of Four sought to attack their political opponents and rid them one by one.

From their failed attempts at defaming popular Premier Zhou Enlai, the Gang launched a media campaign against the emerging Deng Xiaoping, who they deemed to be a serious political challenge.

In January 1976, Premier Zhou died of his cancer, prompting widespread mourning.

On April 5, Beijing citizens staged a spontaneous demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Zhou's memory at the Qingming Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday to honor the dead.

The real purpose of the gathering was to protest the Gang of Four's repressive policies.

Police drove the crowd out of the square in an eerie precursor to the events that took place there 15 years later.

The Gang of Four succeeded in convincing a gravely ill Mao that Deng Xiaoping was responsible for the incident.

As a result, Deng was denounced as a capitalist roader and stripped of his position as vice premier, although he retained his party membership.

He went into hiding in the city of Canton, where he was sheltered by the local military commander, who did not care for either the Gang of Four or Mao's newly appointed successor Hua Guofeng ( see below ).

Deng knew that Mao would soon be gone, and that he only needed to wait a short while.

While experiencing a political storm, China was also hit with a massive natural disaster — the Tangshan Earthquake, officially recorded at magnitude 7. 8 on the Richter Scale, authorities refused large amounts of foreign aid.

Killing over 240, 000 people, the tremors of the earthquake were felt both figuratively and literally amidst Beijing's political instability.

A meteorite also landed in northwestern China, and the authorities told people not to believe as in olden times that these events were omens and signs from the heavens.