The
Gang of Four was an
elite political circle in the
Chinese Communist party in the 1960's and the 1970's. The members were Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wen yuan, and
Jiang Qing,
Mao Zedong's third "
wife" (
Mao had plenty of fun in his harems). Formerly a bunch of petty officials, they used their relation with
Mao as leverage to manipulate the
media to further their
radical policies. They were largely responsible for the
Cultural Revolution. A tangle of a
play (
Jiang Qing was a B-grade Chinese opera actress) and its "political content" sparked the purge of the arts and the resulting
chaos.
With Mao doing nothing, the Gang of Four wildly abused their power, which was absolute as long as Mao lived. The gullible Red Guards were their toys, and they exacted revenge on their enemies, real or imagined, the intellectuals, education, cultural figures, doctors, writers, shopkeepers. The PLA (People's Liberation Army) put a stop to this in 1969, but it could not pull a coup to remove the Gang of Four. They continued to be rule China until Mao's death in 1976. Their support gone, they were promptly arrested for treason against the state. Two were sentenced to death (both committed suicide), the others to heavy jail terms. Deng Xiaoping rose through the vacuum of power to assume leadership of the nation, giving him the title "Paramount Leader".
The fact that a petty leftist band out of England can draw inspiration from a bunch of traitorous criminals speaks volumes about limousine liberalism.