Hu Yaobang (1915–1989)

Chinese politician, Communist Party (CCP) chair 1981–87. A protégé of the communist leader Deng Xiaoping, Hu presided over a radical overhaul of the party structure and personnel 1982–86. His death ignited the pro-democracy movement, which was eventually crushed in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

Hu, born into a peasant family in Hunan province, was a political commissar during the 1934–35 Long March. In 1941 he served under Deng and later worked under him in provincial and central government. Hu was purged as a ‘capitalist roader’ during the 1966–69 Cultural Revolution and sent into the countryside for ‘re-education’. He was rehabilitated in 1975 but disgraced again when Deng fell from prominence in 1976. In December 1978, with Deng established in power, Hu was inducted into the CCP Politburo and became head of the revived secretariat in 1980 and CCP chair in 1981. He attempted to quicken reaction against Mao. He was dismissed in January 1987 for his relaxed handling of a wave of student unrest in December 1986.