Mao's successor Hua Guofeng dies

Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong in 1976

Hua Guofeng, who succeeded Mao Zedong as chairman of China's Communist Party, has died, state media is reporting.

Xinhua news agency said 87-year-old Hua died in Beijing after suffering from an unspecified illness.

Hua took over as chairman after Mao's death in 1976, and was in power at the end of the Cultural Revolution.

But Hua was himself quickly pushed aside by radical reformer Deng Xiaoping. His period as chairman ended formally in 1981.

However, unlike former leaders who were purged and exiled to remote villages, Hua remained in Beijing and on the party's Central Committee.