Because he had no son to succeed him, Mao appointed a five-person politburo to do the job. Its members, which included his nephew, Mao Yuanxin, his mistress, Zhang Yufeng, and Jiang Qing, his last wife – were as incompetent at governing as Kim, but, following the disaster of the Cultural Revolution, antagonism to them in the military and other state institutions was too widespread for them to last.
但毛泽东的去世至少终结了中国的家天下。毛泽东没有儿子可以继承他的权力，因此他任命了一个5人政治局，成员包括侄子毛远新、情妇张玉凤和最后一任妻子江青。这批人和金正日一样治国无能，与此同时，在饱受文化大革命摧残的中国，军队和其他政府机构中早已出现了普遍的反对情绪。他们和四人帮（江青也是其中之一）很快就被驱逐出了政治核心。