Following the ouster of the Gang of Four a new ruling triumvirate was established consisting of Hua, Marshal
Ye Jianying, and chief economic planner
Li Xiannian. The
Cultural Revolution had ended, although Hua did not repudiate Mao and attributed all of the failures of the Cultural Revolution solely to the Gang of Four. Almost immediately, a new power struggle began between Hua and Deng Xiaoping. This struggle was decisively resolved in Deng's favor in December 1978, which is generally taken as the start of the
reform and opening up.
Domestic politics Hua was not broadly known to the Chinese public at the time of his appointment. Starting in late 1976, Hua started a nationwide campaign to criticize the Gang of Four, together with a process of "reversing the verdicts" for people who criticized the Gang. People punished after the 1976 Tiananmen incident were released, and the incident was re-assessed during a Central Work Conference held in 1977. From October 1976 to December 1978, more than 4600 cadres disgraced during the Cultural Revolution were rehabilitated. In July 1977, at the 1st Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee, Deng was rehabilitated with the approval of Hua. The Plenum also marked a large change in the Central Committee's composition, with 68 newly elected members, of which more than 20 were rehabilitated officials. Despite his wishes to be cremated, Mao's body was also placed in a
mausoleum, while Hua was in charge of editing the fifth volume of
Selected Works of Mao Zedong, later subject to significant propaganda efforts. In February 1977, the central leadership under Hua released a new slogan: "We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions
Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave". Satirically referred to as the "
Two Whatevers", this slogan was used to criticize Hua due to the perception that he obeyed Mao's orders too blindly. In 1977 the leadership authorized the first
National College Entrance Examination since the Cultural Revolution began. Hua also attempted reforming state protocol as a method of elevating his prestige. In 1978 all party meetings were to hang portraits of Mao and Hua side-by-side, including at the National People's Congress and CCP Party Congress meetings. All schools were required to hang Hua's picture next to Mao's. Hua also changed the
Chinese national anthem to incorporate Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party, switching the tone from being war-rallying to purely Communist ideology; these lyrics were eventually rejected. Hua Guofeng continued to use the terminology of the Cultural Revolution, but he criticized certain aspects of it, including the education reform, the revolutionary committees' activity and other excesses, blaming the Gang of Four. State media referred to him as "the wise leader". In February 1978, the first session of the
5th National People's Congress approved
a new state constitution, which Hua was heavily involved in drafting. This document attempted to restore some rule of law and planning mechanisms from the PRC's original 1956 constitution, though it still contained references to
continuous revolution and proletarian internationalism; it was replaced only four years later with
a different constitution.
Economy During his tenure, Hua was concerned at the state of China's economy, stating that he feared it was on the brink of collapse. Hua worked with Li Xiannian to boost the economy, endorsing a plan to accelerate economic growth by boosting enterprises budgets and importing massive amounts of foreign technology. He introduced an ambitious ten-year economic plan which sought to create a Soviet-style economy by increasing investments in heavy industry and energy, mechanizing agriculture and using imported technology to build new manufacturing plants. Starting from 1977, Hua also spoke about the "
Four Modernizations". Though the idea of importing technology was not new, Hua's approach was differentiated by its scale, with planned imports of $80 billion by the summer of 1978. His proposal to purchase foreign equipment, services, and infrastructure through massive loans, which were viewed as reckless, impractical, and later derided as "the Western-Led Leap Forward". Although his industrial proposals proved unrealistic, Hua's efforts removed the political stigma from the idea of importing technology. The technology import plans were quickly scrapped in favor of a cheaper and more doable five-year plan which prioritized light industry and consumer goods. Hua's economic and political programs involved the restoration of Soviet-style industrial planning and party control similar to that followed by China before the
Great Leap Forward. However, this model was rejected by supporters of Deng Xiaoping, who argued for a more private-based economic system.
Foreign policy In 1978, Hua visited
Yugoslavia and
Romania to study their socialist economic experiences and advanced production techniques. In October 1979, Hua went on a European tour, the first of its kind for a Chinese leader after 1949. He traveled to
West Germany and
France. On 28 October Hua visited the
United Kingdom and met with British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher. The two engaged in friendly talks and discussed the
future of Hong Kong, which was a
British Overseas Territory at the time. Chairman Hua visited Derby's
British Rail Railway Technical Centre to observe the development of the
Advanced Passenger Train. His visit coincided with the donation of the Chinese Government Railways Steam Locomotive 4-8-4 KF Class No 7 to the
National Railway Museum in York. Chairman Hua also went to a farm in Oxfordshire and visited
Oxford University. Hua was one of the last foreigners to visit
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, before he was
overthrown in 1979. ==Power struggle and ousting==