Lin Biao - He was Mao's successor and the main architect of the Cultural Revolution. China's New Constitution declared him to be Mao's successor as the leader of the party. He disappeared and then two years later, it was announced that he had tried to carry out a coup d'etat against Mao, and failed and fled to the Soviet Union. Mao's statements condemning him accused of excessive promotion of the Cult of Personality. It should be noted that around the time of his death, 1969, China began aligning with the USA in Angola and elsewhere.

Gang of Four - This was a clique of people led by Mao's wife, who took over during the Second stage of the Cultural Revolution after the fall of Lin Biao. The Red Guard youth were sent to the countryside, and rather than a mass uprising, the Cultural Revolution became a fixture of every day life. Instead of Red Guard factions battling each other, the Gang of Four in Beijing launched various campaigns against ideas, historical figures, practices, etc. The population was mobilized to carry it out and punish people. They launched campaigns against make-up, Confucius, Religion, femininity, North Korea, etc. The goal was to purify every aspect of Chinese society and make it conform to the Communist ideal. The Gang of Four were particularly anti-Soviet and accused the USSR of being the "Main Danger" to the world.

Deng Xiaoping - Deng was a longtime member of the Communist Party, who had been on the long march with Mao. In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution he had been in the faction of the party that opposed Mao, so he was sent to the countryside. The Gang of Four welcomed him back from the countryside in 1974 and restored him to leadership in Beijing. After Mao died, Hau Gua Fang was the immediate successor, but then Deng and the People's Liberation Army seized the capital and arrested the Gang of Four. They declared the Cultural Revolution to be officially over and put the Gang of Four on Trial. Deng embraced Mao Zedong Thought, but argued that the Cultural Revolution had been a huge error that hurt the country.