Hua Guofeng (華國鋒), who briefly ruled China as communist founder Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) successor but was pushed aside by Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) as a prelude to reforms, died yesterday at the age of 87 of an unspecified illness, state-run media reported.
He took power after Mao’s death in September 1976, but saw his powers erode until Deng took control in 1978. Hua was forced out as Communist Party chairman in 1981 and slipped into obscurity.
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