WI: Deng Xiaoping was purged

During the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping was condemned by Mao and Lin Biao as a "capitalist roader" along with Liu Shaoqi. However, he was able to survive the Cultural Revolution years in exile in Jiangxi. Obviously, after Mao died, he was able to outmaneuver the Gang of Four and create the modern capitalist China.

So, my question is this. What if Deng had been killed along with Liu Shaoqi? What if he had not been around post-1976? Would the Gang of Four have managed to retain control of China?
 
This gets asked a lot in the forum. The answer is that Hua Guofeng would’ve had a real run at being leader instead of being outmaneuvered and slowly being stripped of his power by Deng as in OTL.

The question is, without Deng, does Hua become unchallenged or would there have been someone else who would emerge to challenge him?
 

RousseauX

Donor
This gets asked a lot in the forum. The answer is that Hua Guofeng would’ve had a real run at being leader instead of being outmaneuvered and slowly being stripped of his power by Deng as in OTL.

The question is, without Deng, does Hua become unchallenged or would there have been someone else who would emerge to challenge him?
Hua would have faced a challenge from the party elders, without Deng Chen yun might have won out in the late 70s power struggle.
 
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