China: 30 years ago

Thirty years ago - to the day - on October 6, 1976, China experienced a momentous event that would change its destiny.

Certainly you would expect some commemorative stories in the Chinese press and even in the international press, considering it was indeed a momentous event. A search on Google News turned up stories about a gang of four robbers committing a crime or about the Gang of Four pop band.

The South China Morning Post managed to pull one story out of its hat, although not written by one of its correspondents. At least AFP, Agence France Presse, somehow somewhere put a reminder that this day, 30 years past, turned out somewhat remarkable.

Indeed, 30 years ago today, then party chairman Hua Guofeng and marshal Ye Jianying decided to put a final stop to the Cultural Revolution by arresting the ‘Gang of Four’: Mao’s wife Jiang Qing, along with Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan. All have already departed this world… Comrade Hua Guofeng lives on in obscurity. Those who agree with his bold action 30 years past at least could send him a thank-you note!

It seems AFP remembered that on this day “the fate of modern China was decided in an outburst of cloak-and-dagger drama”. Had they succeeded, the French news agency continued, “China could have taken an entirely different historical path, possibly a cul-de-sac of oppression and poverty not unlike North Korea today”.

Perhaps yes, perhaps no, we will never know… What we do know is that China changed course, and nobody seems to remember.