Yao Wenyuan、the final surviving member of the Gang of Four

Yao, who was the group's propagandist, later dubbed the killer with a pen by state media, died of diabetes Dec. 23, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The Gang of Four were arrested in a bloodless coup one month after Mao Zedong's death in September 1976, ending a decade of ultraleftist fervor whipped up by his wife, Jiang Qing. The other members were Zhang Chunqiao and Wang Hongwen.

Jiang apparently hanged herself in 1991 while on medical parole. Wang, 58, died of liver cancer in a Beijing hospital in 1992. Zhang died of cancer in April at age 88.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 14, 2006
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