To foreigners and even to the Chinese general public, Hua Guofeng was a new face, but Mao had known Hua for two decades. He first met Hua in 1955 when Hua was prefectural party secretary in Xiangtan, Hunan, Mao's home prefecture. Hua was then a strong supporter of Mao's rapid agricultural collectivization and Mao formed a positive impression of him. Over the two decades Mao had known Hua, Hua had firmly supported Mao in each political campaign and had risen in status after each one of them.
