 Mao died on 9 September 1976 and Hua, as both the number two-man of the CPC and Premier, led the national commemorations in Beijing in his honor in the days that followed.At the time, the highest power organ of the country, the Politburo Standing Committee, consisted of Hua, Ye Jianying, Zhang Chunqiao, and Wang Hongwen; Ye was in semi-retirement, and Zhang and Wang were part of the Gang of Four.Hua knew that in the post-Mao power vacuum, his position vis-a-vis the Gang of Four's would be a zero-sum game.