Tiananmen Incident

The Qingming (tomb cleaning) festival in Peking's Square of Heavenly Peace which in April, 1976, was turned into a mass mourning for Premier Zhou Enlai, who had died the previous January. Vast crowds turned it into a demonstration of support for the moderate leader Deng Xiaoping and against Mme Mao (Jiang Qing) and her "Gang of Four" radical colleagues. On April 5 a day or rioting ensued when the authorities tried to remove the wreaths and wall posters. Deng was subsequently purged.