On July 17, 1974, Chairman Mao said at a meeting of the Central Politburo: "Comrade Jiang Qing, you must pay attention! Others have opinions about you, but it is not good for them to tell you to your face, and you do not know. Do not set up two factories, one called the steel factory, and one called the hat factory, putting big hats on people at every turn. This is not good, you must pay attention." "You are also difficult to change." He also said: "You all must pay attention, do not form a small four-person faction." Chairman Mao said twice: "She (referring to Jiang Qing) does not represent me, she represents herself." "In a word, she represents herself."

On November 12, 1974, Chairman Mao wrote an instruction on a letter from Jiang Qing: "Do not make too many public appearances, do not approve documents, do not form a cabinet (be the boss behind the scenes). You have accumulated much resentment, you must unite with the majority. This is a most important instruction." "It is valuable for a person to have self-knowledge. And again."

In November and December of 1974, during the period when the Central Committee was preparing to convene the Fourth National People's Congress and deliberating on the personnel arrangements for state organs, Jiang Qing asked someone to convey her opinion to Chairman Mao, wanting Wang Hongwen to be a Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Chairman Mao said: "Jiang Qing has ambitions. She wants to make Wang Hongwen the Chairman, and herself the Chairman of the Party." On December 23, 1974, Chairman Mao said again: "Jiang Qing has ambitions, does she or not, I think she does."

On December 24, 1974, Chairman Mao criticized them, saying: "Do not engage in factionalism, engaging in factionalism will lead to a fall."

In early 1975, after the Fourth National People's Congress, Jiang Qing summoned us again, and in a very agitated state, she cursed almost all the members of the Politburo, and insisted that we report her opinions to Chairman Mao. We reported to Chairman Mao that Jiang Qing had strong opinions about almost all the members of the Politburo. After hearing this, Chairman Mao said: "There are not many people she thinks highly of, only one, herself." We asked again: What about you? The Chairman said: "I am not in her eyes." The Chairman also said: "In the future, she will fall out with everyone. Right now, people are just humoring her. After I die, she will make trouble."

On May 3, 1975, at a meeting of the Central Politburo, Chairman Mao criticized them for only opposing empiricism and not opposing dogmatism. Chairman Mao said: "You only hate empiricism, not dogmatism. The twenty-eight and a half (Bolsheviks) ruled for four years, waving the banner of the Comintern to intimidate the Chinese Party, and anyone who did not approve would be attacked." "In the fields of education, science, journalism, culture and arts, and many more, also the medical field, a fart from a foreigner is fragrant," "the moon is also better in foreign countries, do not look down on dogmatism." Chairman Mao emphasized: "Practice Marxism-Leninism, not revisionism; unite, and don't split; be open and aboveboard, and don't intrigue and conspire. Don't form a gang of four, you all should stop it, why do you keep doing it? Why not unite with the more than two hundred Central Committee members, forming a small group is not good, it has never been good." After repeatedly stating the "three dos and three don'ts," Chairman Mao said: "In my view, some comrades do not believe in the three principles, nor do they listen to me, these three principles have all been forgotten, they were spoken of at the Ninth and Tenth Congresses, these three principles need to be discussed again by everyone." "I think those who criticize empiricism are themselves empiricists." "It is not good not to make self-criticism, to ask others to do it, but not do it oneself." "Don't be casual, there must be discipline, be cautious, don't make arbitrary decisions on your own, you must discuss with the Politburo, if you have opinions, discuss them in the Politburo, print them as documents and distribute them, it must be in the name of the Central Committee, not in a personal name, for example, not in my name either, I have never sent out any materials."

On May 3, 1975, Chairman Mao pointed out: Their problem, "if it cannot be solved in the first half of the year, it will be solved in the second half; if it cannot be solved this year, it will be solved next year; if it cannot be solved next year, it will be solved the year after."

At the First National Conference on Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture held in September 1975, the agenda approved by Chairman Mao was for the whole country to learn from Dazhai and popularize Dazhai-type counties. However, Jiang Qing went to Dazhai and spoke at length about how the "crucial point" of *Water Margin* was "Song Jiang making Chao Gai a figurehead," alluding to and attacking Premier Zhou and Comrade Deng Xiaoping for "making Chairman Mao a figurehead." She also unreasonably demanded that a recording of her speech be played and the text of her speech be distributed at the National Conference on Learning from Dazhai in Agriculture. Comrade Hua Guofeng saw through Jiang Qing's conspiracy and promptly reported it to the Party Central Committee. After Chairman Mao learned of this, he angrily rebuked Jiang Qing's speech as "farting, the text is irrelevant to the topic," and gave the clear instruction: "Do not distribute the text, do not play the recording, do not print the speech," striking a blow against the reactionary arrogance of the "Gang of Four."