Gang of Four

See also: gang of four

English

(China, historical, politics) A radical political faction composed of four Communist Party of China officials that came to prominence during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
- 1977, Roxane Witke, Comrade Chiang Chʻing‎, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 472:
  Once control of the media was wrested from Mao's most strident defenders, the abusive language Chiang Ch'ing had used against her enemies over the years was hurled back at her. The verbal weapons borrowed from Lu Hsun backfired. "Ruthlessly beat the dog in the water," her enemies repeated as they vowed to fight the Gang of Four to the finish. Their claims to have been the standard-bearers of the much-exploited Lu Hsun were mocked.
- 1980 December 21, “Along with 'gang of four' Mao's thought goes on trial in Peiping”, in Free China Weekly‎, volume XXI, number 50, Taipei, →ISSN, page 1:
  Chinese and Japanese scholars attending a symposium on the problems facing the Peiping regime Dec. 17 reached the conclusion that the trial of the "gang of four" and six other defendants in Peiping is actually a trial of Mao Tse-tung and his thought.
(by extension) Any influential (political) group having four members.
1. (technology) Synonym of Big Four (“four largest corporations of Big Tech”).
(music) An English post-punk band formed in 1976.

radical political faction