On January 28, Mao formally asked Hua to be responsible for the daily work of the party center.25 And on February 2, two weeks after Deng had submitted his resignation, the party center announced to high-level party members throughout the country that Hua, with the unanimous approval of the Politburo, had been appointed acting premier.26 Meanwhile, Deng had dropped out of sight. After submitting his resignation, Deng did not return to work until the summer of 1977.27
