Death of Mao Zedong
By September 5, 1976, Mao's condition turned critical. Upon being contacted by Hua Guofeng, Jiang Qing returned from her trip and spent only a few moments in the hospital's Building 202, where Mao was being treated. Later she returned to her own residence in the Spring Lotus Chamber.
On the afternoon of September 7, Mao took a turn for the worse. Mao had just fallen asleep and needed to rest, but Jiang Qing insisted on rubbing his back and moving his limbs, and she sprinkled powder on his body. The medical team protested that the dust from the powder was not good for his lungs, but she instructed the nurses on duty to follow her example later.
The next morning, September 8, she went again. This time she wanted the medical staff to change Mao's sleeping position, claiming that he had been lying too long on his left side. The doctor on duty objected, knowing that he could breathe only on his left side. Jiang had him move Mao nonetheless. As a result, Mao's breathing stopped and his face turned blue. Jiang Qing left the room while the medical staff put Mao on a respirator and performed emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Eventually, Mao was revived and Hua Guofeng urged Jiang Qing not to interfere further with the doctors' work. However, Mao's organs failed and the Chinese government decided to disconnect Mao's life support mechanism.
Mao's death occurred on September 9, 1976. Mao's chosen successor, Hua Guofeng, chaired his funeral committee. It was believed Hua was a compromise candidate between the free-marketeers and the party orthodox. Some argue this may have been due to his ambivalence and his low-key profile, particularly compared to Deng Xiaoping, the preferred candidate of the market-oriented factions. The party apparatus, under orders from Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao, wrote a eulogy affirming Mao's achievements in order to justify their claims to power.
By this time state media was effectively under the control of the Gang of Four. State newspapers continued to denounce Deng shortly after Mao's death. Jiang Qing was especially paranoid of Deng's influence on national affairs, whereas she considered Hua Guofeng a mere nuisance. In numerous documents published in the 1980s it was claimed that Jiang Qing was conspiring to make herself the new Chairman of the Communist Party.
Read more about this topic: Jiang Qing
Famous quotes containing the words mao zedong, death and/or zedong:
“Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“Human life consists in mutual service. No grief, pain, misfortune, or “broken heart,” is excuse for cutting off one’s life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is over, when one is assured of an unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“Apart from their other characteristics, the outstanding thing about China’s 600 million people is that they are “poor and blank.” This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)