Hu Yaobang

Hu Yaobang
胡耀邦
Photo of Hu Yaobang
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
In office September 12, 1982 – January 15, 1987
President	Li Xiannian
Premier	Zhao Ziyang
Preceded by	Post reestablished
Succeeded by	Zhao Ziyang
Chairman of the Communist Party of China
In office June 29, 1981 – September 12, 1982
Deputy	Ye Jianying
Preceded by	Hua Guofeng
Succeeded by	Post abolished
Secretary-General of the CPC Central Secretariat
In office February 29, 1980 – September 12, 1982
Chairman	Hua Guofeng Himself
Preceded by	Deng Xiaoping (in 1966)
Succeeded by	Post abolished
Personal details
Born	(1915-11-20)20 November 1915 Liuyang, Hunan, Beiyang Government
Died	15 April 1989(1989-04-15) (aged 73) Beijing, China
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Li Zhao (1921-2017)
Relations	Hu Deping (eldest son) Hu Liu (second son) Hu Dehua (third son) Li Heng (daughter)
Central institution membership 1980–1989: 11th, 12th, 13th Politburo Standing Committee 1980–1989: 11th, 12th, 13th Politburo 1980–1982: 11th Secretariat 1972–1989: 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th Central Committee 1954–1989: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th 7th National People's Congress Other offices held 1978–1980: Head, Propaganda Department 1977–1978: Head, Organization Department 1964–1965: Party Committee Secretary, Shaanxi Province 1953–1978: First Secretary, Communist Youth League

Hu Yaobang
"Hu Yaobang" in Chinese characters
Chinese	胡耀邦
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hú Yàobāng Wade–Giles Hu2 Yao4-pang1 IPA [xǔ jâu.páŋ] Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Wu4 Jiu6-bong1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Hô Iāu-pang

Hu Yaobang (November 20, 1915 – April 15, 1989) was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He was the leader of the Communist Party of China from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as General Secretary from 1982 to 1987. Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s, and rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Hu was purged, recalled, and purged again, following the political career of Deng.

After Deng rose to power, following the death of Mao Zedong, Deng promoted Hu to a series of high political positions. Throughout the 1980s Hu pursued a series of economic and political reforms under the direction of Deng. Hu's political and economic reforms made him the enemy of several powerful Party elders, who opposed free market reforms and attempts to make China's government more transparent. When widespread student protests occurred across China in 1987, Hu's political opponents successfully blamed Hu for the disruptions, claiming that Hu's "laxness" and "bourgeois liberalization" had either led to, or worsened, the protests. Hu was forced to resign as Party general secretary in 1987, but was allowed to retain a seat in the Politburo.

Hu's position as Party general secretary was taken by Zhao Ziyang, who continued many of Hu's economic and political reforms. A day after Hu's death, in 1989, a small-scale demonstration commemorated him and demanded that the government reassess his legacy. A week later, the day before Hu's funeral, some 100,000 students marched on Tiananmen Square, leading to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Following the government's suppression of the 1989 protests, the Chinese government censored the details of Hu's life inside mainland China, but it officially rehabilitated his image and lifted its censorship restrictions on the 90th anniversary of Hu's birth, in 2005.