Hua Guofeng: the forgotten reformer?

Reading Ezra Vogel’s canonical biography of Deng Xiaoping, I am struck by Vogel’s positive portrayal of Hua Guofeng, Mao Zedong’s successor for a brief period (1976-1978) after Mao’s death.

The popular image of Hua is that of a gray, continuist Maoist, as opposed to a reformist and bold Deng. But it must be remembered that history is written by the victors (especially in China).

Vogel paints a more nuanced picture of Hua’s legacy:

In keeping with a long-standing tradition in Chinese political history writing, which glorifies the victor and denigrates the vanquished, Deng has been credited with launching opening and reform, and Hua has been blamed for following everything Mao decided and directed. (...)

But many underestimated Hua and his commitment to reform. Later official histories understate Hua's willingness to depart from the ways of Mao, as well as his support for the policy of opening China to the West. During his interregnum, which lasted from Mao's death in September 1976 until the Third Plenum in December 1978, Hua in fact not only arrested the Gang of Four but abandoned radical Maoism, reduced the roles of ideology and political campaigns, focused on modernization more than class struggle, and regularized the scheduling of party meetings that had been held irregularly under Mao. Hua also sent delegation after delegation abroad to learn about modern technology. He -not Deng- launched China’s special economic zones, which experimented with efforts to bring in foreign direct investment. Hua did try to delay Deng’s return to office in 1977, but he did not undo the progress that Deng had made in 1975, and he supported the later changes that Deng introduced after returning in 1977. He not only promoted the rapid opening of the country, but even suffered sharp criticism for carrying it too far in his “Western-led Leap Forward” (yang yuejin).

China's contemporary history continues to be an exciting, vibrant area of debate with many stories to re-tell.