Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 26. October 3 1977
Relief After Expulsion
Relief After Expulsion
Both my Aunt's family and Mr and Mrs Choong expressed much enthusiasm and relief at the Gang of Four's fall from power. I was told that the Gang of Four was very unpopular in Kwangchow. Over one million people gathered at a rally in Kwangchow a few days earlier, to celebrate major announcements made by Central Committee of the Communist Party. It was announced here that the Party Central Committee officially verified Chairman Hua's appointment, and Teng Hsaio Peng's official reinstatement to keep positions in the Party was also rectified. The last part of the announcement On concerned the official expulsion of the Gang of Four from all positions in the Communist Party.
On the night that these announcements were [ unclear: h] broadcast over China Radio our delegation was staying at a hotel in Changsha in Human Province. Within an hour of the broadcast two to three hundred Chinese people had assembled in front of the hotel with banners, slogans, drums and fire crackers. They then proceeded to march to Changsha Railway Station, making one hell of a racket, to join 500,000 others at a rally to celebrate the announcements.
All this as Mr Choong pointed out to me, illuminated the tremendous feeling of relief and liberation from oppression that he and most people in China felt when the Gang of Four was smashed.
I was very lucky to meet the two families in Kwangchow. The three days that I spent with them proved to be much more valuable, in giving me a greater appreciation and understanding of life in China than the rest of the other fifteen days I spent with the rest of the Delegation visiting the other places.
John Chan