The Gang of Four was the name given by Mao Zedong to the ultra-leftist political faction composed of four high Chinese Communist Party officials, led by his last wife, Jiang Qing. When Mao placed Jiang in charge of the country’s cultural apparatus in 1966, she had not taken a public political role. Using her role, she would effectively manage the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) and Communist China itself. (The other three members of the gang were Jiang’s close associates, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen, who were party leaders in Shanghai who played leading roles in securing that city for Mao during the Cultural Revolution.)
四人帮是有毛泽东定名的由四位中共高官组成的极左政治团体，而领导者就是他的妻子——江青。当毛在1966年的时候指定江青为文化部的负责人的之前，她并没有一个公职职位。她利用了自己的职位从而有效的组织了文化大革命（1966-76）和共产中国本身。（四人帮的其他三人是江青最亲密的助手：张春桥、姚文元和王洪文，当时他们是上海的党的领导人并在文革期间为毛保卫这座城市的安全。）
With Mao’s health faltering, the group slowly lost their influence. A power struggle inside the Communist Party ensued, and a propaganda campaign was launched against the four, calling them the Gang of Four. (Four has the same sound as ‘death’ in Chinese, and is viewed as an unlucky number). On October 6th, 1976, a month after Mao’s death, the gang was finally arrested. Blamed for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, they were dragged in front of a show trial in 1981. Madame Mao, the former Shanghai starlet, now dubbed a witch by state media, remained defiant and theatrical to the last, protesting loudly and bursting into tears at some points. The only member of the Gang of Four who bothered to argue, she insisted that she obeyed Mao’s orders at all times. Zhang refused to admit any wrong. They would receive death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonments. Yao and Wang, who confessed to their alleged crimes, received twenty years in prison. Jiang, who never repented, hanged herself in May 1991 after a debilitating struggle with cancer.
随着毛越来越虚弱，四人帮也慢慢的失去了他们的影响力。接踵而至的就是在中共内部发生的权力斗争，还有一场宣传战争在同时进行，称他们是四人帮（四在汉语里与死是同音，被视为不吉利的数字）。在1976年10月6日，也就是毛死后的一个月，四人帮终于被捕了。他们被指责加剧了文化大革命，他们在1981年被拽到了这场政治秀的前台接受审判。毛夫人，这位以前的上海明星，现在为国家宣传机器所抹黑的人仍要抗争到底，她高声的为自己辩护，有时候还泪如泉涌。她是四个人里面唯一厌烦争辩的，她坚持说自己从始至终所做的一切都是按照毛的指令。张春桥拒绝承认自己有任何过错。他们一开始被宣判为死刑，后来减刑为无期徒刑。姚文元和王洪文承认了自己的罪行，在监狱里呆了20年。而绝不认罪的江青后来得了癌症并在1991年5月自缢身亡。
Above, in the true Communist manner, the Gang of Four was removed from the original photograph of the memorial ceremony for Mao at Tiananmen Square. This was extremely ironic for Wang who announced Mao’s funeral service on national radio. Below, the images from the trial of the Gang of Four.
上图中，按照政治局的排位，四人帮从这张在天安门广场悼念毛泽东仪式的原始照片中被抹去了。这对于在毛的葬礼上向全国念悼词的王洪文来说是天大的讽刺。下图来自四人帮受审判的时候。
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