Death follows a 'grave illness'
Hua Guofeng - who led the Communist Party, the government and the armed forces as Mao Zedong's handpicked successor - died in Beijing yesterday at the age of 87.
In a brief statement released by Xinhua, Mr Hua was described as 'an outstanding party member, a long-tested and loyal communist fighter, and a proletarian revolutionary who once held important, leading posts in the party and the government'.
State broadcaster China Central Television ran a sombre, 30-second announcement, with a black-and-white photograph of Mr Hua, during its prime-time evening news.
Overseas Chinese press reported last week that Mr Hua was gravely ill and in hospital.
Born in 1921, he served as chairman of the Communist Party, premier and chairman of the party's Central Military Commission in the late 1970s and early '80s.
'He left an indelible mark in contemporary Chinese history as a principal policymaker in the arrest of the Gang of Four - including the arrest of [Mao's widow] Jiang Qing , thus ending a tumultuous political era and paving the way for what could follow later,' said Hu Xingdou , a political scientist from Beijing University of Science and Technology. But he was a less celebrated figure within the Communist Party, as indicated by the wording of Xinhua's one-sentence obituary.
