The Physical Fallout of the Quake
By the official count, 242,000 people lost their lives in the Great Tangshan Earthquake. Many experts have since speculated that the actual toll was as high as 700,000, but the true number will probably never be known.
The city of Tangshan was rebuilt from the ground up, and now is home to more than 3 million people. It is known as the "Brave City of China" for its swift recovery from the catastrophic quake.
The Political Fallout of the Quake
In many ways, the political repercussions of the Great Tangshan Earthquake were even more significant than the death toll and physical damage.
Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976.
He was replaced as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, not by one of the radical Gang of Four, but by Premiere Hua Guofeng. Buoyed by public support after his show of concern at Tangshan, Hua boldly arrested the Gang of Four in October of 1976, ending the Cultural Revolution.
Madam Mao and her cronies were put on trial in 1981, and sentenced to death for the horrors of the Cultural Revolution. Their sentences were later commuted to twenty years to life in prison, and all were eventually released.
Jiang committed suicide in 1991, and the other three members of the clique have since died.
Reformer Deng Xiaoping was released from prison, and politically rehabilitated.
He was elected Party Vice Chairman in August of 1977, and served as the de facto leader of China from 1978 through the early 1990s. Deng initiated the economic and social reforms that have allowed China to develop into a major economic power on the world stage.
Conclusion
The Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976 was the worst natural disaster of the twentieth century, in terms of loss of life.
However, the earthquake was instrumental in ending the Cultural Revolution, which was one of the worst man-made disasters of all time.
In the name of Communist struggle, the Cultural Revolutionaries destroyed the traditional culture, arts, religion and knowledge of one of the world's most ancient civilizations.
They persecuted intellectuals, prevented the education of an entire generation, and ruthlessly tortured and killed thousands of ethnic minority members. Han Chinese, too, were subject to hideous mistreatment at the hands of the Red Guards; an estimated 750,000 to 1.5 million people were murdered between 1966 and 1976.
Although the Tangshan Earthquake caused tragic loss of life, it was key in bringing an end to one of the most horrific and abusive systems of governance that the world has ever seen. The quake shook loose the Gang of Four's hold on power, and ushered in a new era of increased openness and economic growth in the People's Republic of China.
Sources
Chang, Jung, "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China," (1991).
"Tangshan Journal; After Eating Bitterness, 100 Flowers Blossom," Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times (January 28, 1995).
"China's Killer Quake," Time Magazine, (June 25, 1979).
"On This Day: July 28" BBC News On-line.
"China marks 30th anniversary of Tangshan quake," China Daily Newspaper, (July 28, 2006).
"Historic Earthquakes: Tangshan, China," U.S. Geological Survey, (last modified January 25, 2008).
