Death follows a 'grave illness' Hua Guofeng - who led the Communist Party, the government and the armed forces as Mao Zedong's handpicked successor - died in Beijing yesterday at the age of 87. In a brief statement released by Xinhua, Mr Hua was described as 'an outstanding party member, a long-tested and loyal communist fighter, and a proletarian revolutionary who once held important, leading posts in the party and the government'. State broadcaster China Central Television ran a sombre, 30-second announcement, with a black-and-white photograph of Mr Hua, during its prime-time evening news. Overseas Chinese press reported last week that Mr Hua was gravely ill and in hospital. Born in 1921, he served as chairman of the Communist Party, premier and chairman of the party's Central Military Commission in the late 1970s and early '80s. 'He left an indelible mark in contemporary Chinese history as a principal policymaker in the arrest of the Gang of Four - including the arrest of [Mao's widow] Jiang Qing , thus ending a tumultuous political era and paving the way for what could follow later,' said Hu Xingdou , a political scientist from Beijing University of Science and Technology. But he was a less celebrated figure within the Communist Party, as indicated by the wording of Xinhua's one-sentence obituary. It omitted 'great' before 'proletarian revolutionary', which meant in the heavily coded Chinese political lexicon that Mr Hua was only being treated as an ordinary member of the party's Central Committee - the outmost layer of the party power hierarchy, Professor Hu said. 'The official reading of his political career is that he was a man of integrity, but lacked the ability to lead the country, which at the time was just emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution,' he said. Mr Hua's tenure was short-lived. The hardcore leftist, whose famous slogan 'The Two Whatevers' urged China to uphold whatever policies Mao had adopted and abide by whatever instructions he had given, lost power to reformer Deng Xiaoping by the early '80s. 'He sort of eased out of politics, because he wasn't even half as ambitious as Deng and he was too soft - a Mr Nice Guy in the cutthroat world of Chinese politics,' Professor Hu said. 'This was actually another palace coup - but without shedding a drop of blood - Hua's mild character made it a peaceful transition of power.' Mr Hua's last appearance at an official occasion was at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party in October. On Mao's birthday and anniversary of his death, Mr Hua would, as a rule, lead his family members and aides to visit the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall in Beijing - the hall's name is written in his calligraphy - to pay their respects. Mao once famously told Mr Hua: 'With you in charge, I'm at ease.'