11. A historian studying the defeat of the Gang of Four and re-emergence of Deng Xiaoping would value Source A, an extract taken from Modern China by Edwin E Moise, London, 1994, as it was published in London, at the end of the 20th century when London had no interest in publishing anything bad about China, instead they were objective towards them, this makes the source a reliable one. This source also includes the fact that the Gang of Four went weak after the death of Mao in 1976, however, they wouldn’t benefit that much since the source did not go in depth with details about how the power of the Gang of Four had declined, nor the fact that three members died in prison. This source only displays the imprisonment of the Gang of Four which wouldn’t be too useful to a historian who might have already been aware of this information. Instead, of demonstrating the re-emergence of Deng and emphasizing on the defeat of the Gang of Four, this source emphasizes more on the events that have taken place during the Tiananmen square in 1976, the death of Mao and Zhou and their effects on the Chinese society.
Source B, an extract from an “official broadcast in Tiananmen Square by Mayor of Beijing, 5 April 1976, taken from China since 1919: Revolution and Reform by Alan Lawrance, London, 2004” is not a valuable source for a historian studying the defeat of the Gang of Four and re-emergence of Deng Xiaoping as they wouldn’t find it a reliable source since it was written 28 years after the actual incident, although this source could have been reliable since they had more time to collect resources, however, many events could have also been changed, rephrased, or even forgotten. Moreover, the Mayor of Beijing which whom the extract was taken from might have been bias. Another reason would be because this source has limited information and the information in which this historian is searching for wouldn’t be found as the purpose of source B is to illustrate the bad elements, the occurrences of Tiananmen Square, the attacks against the capitalist-roader, Deng Xiaoping, and it also displays that the Chinese were attacking Mao in the party central committee due to their radical policies; therefore, it does not illustrate Deng’s re-emergence nor the Gang of Four’s defeat. However, this source can be valued in some way as it is an official broadcast in Tiananmen Square.
12. The Gang of Four maintained their power through control of the media and propaganda outlets and by their seeming adherence to Mao's policies and wishes. According to Source B, people began to protest against central authorities and Deng Xiaoping was accused of planning the Tiananmen Square, he was thought of as a capitalist-roader, one who attempts to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction while pretending to advocate socialism. The Gang of Four struggled to defend Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee; they ordered the square to be cleared.
According to source A, the position of the Gang of Four was secure only as long as Mao was available to support them, in less than a month after Mao’s death, in 1976, the Gang of Four were arrested “presented with evidence of their crimes”. According to source E, they were criticized in a “flood of anti-propaganda that struck chords among a population that were brutalized and exhausted by events of the preceding decade”, as demonstrated in Source C by the image of the children who are enjoying their time playing “smash the Gang of Four”. The Gang of Four were opposed by many as they were primarily blamed for the events of the Cultural Revolution. According to source D, the sabotage of the Gang of Four brought the Chinese economy to the brink of collapse, they were said to have persecuted more than 700,000 people - killing almost 35,000,together with their accomplices.