Hu Dehua, son of former liberal Chinese leader Hu Yaobang, dies at 76

The younger Hu is remembered as an outspoken proponent of political reform and press freedom – rare among China’s princelings

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Hu Dehua is one of the few princelings to have openly spoken out about what he viewed as a lack of progress towards democracy and the rule of law in China. Photo: Simon Song

Yuanyue Dangin BeijingandJun Maiin Beijing

Published: 9:27pm, 31 Mar 2025Updated: 9:58pm, 31 Mar 2025

Hu Dehua, son of the former Chinese leader Hu Yaobang, has died at the age of 76.

He died on Sunday in Beijing due to a heart attack, sources told the South China Morning Post.

Hu was a liberal businessman who repeatedly spoke out for political reform and press freedom in China – rare among the descendants of the Communist Party’s early top officials, a group known as “princelings”.

In 2016, he became vice-director of the outspoken magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu. But he was in the role for less than three months as he and other senior staff were replaced in July of that year in a management reshuffle that led to a sweeping shift in the magazine’s editorial direction.

The magazine’s articles touched on sensitive events in the party’s history and advocated political reform.

Hu’s father was a widely respected liberal leader who died of a heart attack on April 15, 1989 – two years after he was ousted by party conservatives for tolerating “bourgeois liberalisation”.

Mourning over the former party general secretary’s death sparked one of the largest pro-democracy movements in modern China. Because of this, the elder Hu’s name became taboo in China and was censored by the official media for many years.

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