中共中央通知中发〔1976〕16号 (CCP Central Committee Notice, Zhongfa [1976] No. 16), first page

First page of the circular sent to provincial, military and central-organ Party committees about the 'Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan anti-Party clique'. The text labels the four an 'anti-Party clique' engaged in a 'conspiracy to usurp power' (name-calling) and grounds the charge in their not obeying Chairman Mao and distorting his line (transfer of Mao's authority onto the accusation).

Date: October 18, 1976
Period: Cold War
Made by: Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Region: East Asia
Country: China
Medium: Document
Issuer type: Party
Regime: People's Republic of China
Leader: Hua Guofeng
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: Elections and party politics
Event: Arrest of the Gang of Four
Techniques: Name-calling Transfer
Regime: People's Republic of China after Mao (1976 to now)
Leader: Xi Jinping
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (scan from 中央档案馆 ed., 共和国六十年珍贵档案, 2009, p. 1101), retrieved October 2, 2026
Rights: Public domain (Commons PD-PRC-exempt: PRC Copyright Law Art. 5, official document; mechanical scan)
Central Committee of the CCP, 中发〔1976〕16号, 18 Oct 1976; scan via Commons

Text on the object

Original (Chinese) · read from the image, not independently checked

编号 0000016

中共中央文件

中发〔1976〕16号

中共中央通知

各省、市、自治区党委，各大军区、省军区、野战军党委，中央和国家机关各部委党委、领导小组或党的核心小组，军委各总部、各军兵种党委：

现将王洪文、张春桥、江青、姚文元反党集团事件通知你们。

一、王洪文、张春桥、江青、姚文元进行反党篡权的阴谋活动，罪行极为严重。

他们不听毛主席的话，肆意篡改马克思主义、列宁主义、毛泽东思想，在国内国际一系列问题上反对毛主席的无产阶级革命路线，打着马克思主义的旗号，搞修正主义。

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English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

Serial no. 0000016 / Documents of the CCP Central Committee / Zhongfa [1976] No. 16 / Notice of the CCP Central Committee / To the Party committees of all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, of all major military regions, provincial military districts and field armies, the Party committees, leading groups or Party core groups of the ministries and commissions of the centre and state organs, and the Party committees of the General Departments of the Military Commission and of all services and arms: / We hereby notify you of the affair of the Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing, Yao Wenyuan anti-Party clique. / 1. Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan carried out conspiratorial activities to oppose the Party and usurp power; their crimes are extremely serious. / They did not listen to Chairman Mao, wilfully distorted Marxism, Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, opposed Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line on a series of domestic and international questions, and, flying the banner of Marxism, practised revisionism. / - 1 -

Read from the 1280 px scan of page 1 only. Translation by machine, not verified by a fluent reader.