gang of four

Proper noun capitalized: Gang of Four

the Gang of Four

1. (China, historical) A radical political faction composed of four Communist Party of China officials (Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, Wang Hongwen) that came to prominence during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
   • Once control of the media was wrested from Mao's most strident defenders, the abusive language Chiang Ch'ing had used against her enemies over the years was hurled back at her. The verbal weapons borrowed from Lu Hsun backfired. "Ruthlessly beat the dog in the water," her enemies repeated as they...1977, Roxane Witke, Comrade Chiang Chʻing, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 472
   • Chinese and Japanese scholars attending a symposium on the problems facing the Peiping regime Dec. 17 reached the conclusion that the trial of the "gang of four" and six other defendants in Peiping is actually a trial of Mao Tse-tung and his thought.1980 December 21, “Along with 'gang of four' Mao's thought goes on trial in Peiping”, in Free China Weekly, volume XXI, number 50, Taipei, →ISSN, page 1
2. (broadly) Any influential (political) group having four members.
   1. (broadly) Synonym of Big Four (“four largest corporations of Big Tech”).
3. An English post-punk band formed in 1976.