Remaining member of Mao’s Gang of Four dies

YAO Wenyuan, the final surviving member of the Gang of Four that terrorised China during the violent 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has died aged 74, the government announced yesterday.

Yao, who was the group’s propagandist, later dubbed “the killer with a pen” by state media, died of diabetes on December 23, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

It didn’t say where he died or explain the delay in reporting his death.