ABSTRACT
The long-awaited Tenth Congress eventually met in Peking from August 24 to 28, 1973, regularizing, from an institutional point of view at least, the situation created by the elimination of Ch'en Po-ta, Lin Piao, and the chiefs of staff. The Tenth Congress was attended by 1,249 delegates, all of whom were chosen rather than elected. They nominated a Central Committee differing little from the former one. The Fourth National People's Congress met at last, ten years late, from January 13 to 17; Mao Tse-tung was away from Peking at the time. The first session of the Fourth National People's Congress provided the opportunity for appointing the new government officially. Chou En-lai explained the reasons and circumstances of the fall of Lin Piao and Ch'en Po-ta, just as Lin Piao had done for Liu Shao-ch'i at the Ninth Congress.
