Just 27 days after Mao Tse-tung's death last September, Wang Tung-hsing, a close confidant of Mao's since the 1930s, set out on what seemed like a simple courtesy call on Mao's politically ambitious widow, Chiang Ch'ing. Accompanied by some aides from one of his commands, the elite 15,000-man palace guard, Wang strode into Mme. Mao's sumptuous villa in the Forbidden City and promptly arrested her. A few hours before, he had taken into custody Party Vice Chairman Wang Hung-wen and two other Politburo figures the other three members, along with Mme. Mao, of the celebrated Gang of Four.
With that...