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Hu Yaobang

Born in November 1915, Hu Yaobang joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 18 and became a close ally of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. He became leader of the Communist Youth League in 1952 and Party chairman in 1981. He worked as General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1982 to 1987, when he was forced to resign after clashes with Deng and other party elders over emergent student protests. His death on April 15, 1989, triggered the Tiananmen Square protests.

Born

20 Nov 1915

Industry

Politics

Job Title

Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

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

China’s Communist Party

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.

31 Mar 2025 - 9:58PM

US-China relations

‘Pro-democracy activist’ convicted in US of acting as a covert Chinese agent

7 Aug 2024 - 4:15PMvideocam

China's economic recovery

China’s rural supply cooperatives need private firms, former official says

16 Nov 2022 - 8:00AM

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Explainer | What the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989 was about

The reported death toll varies, from the Chinese State Council’s official count of around 300 to a student union estimate of 4,000.

4 Jun 2021 - 9:15PMvideocam

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A man stands in front of a line of tanks at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 5, 1989. Photo: AP

China’s Communist Party turns 100

Explainer | What is the most powerful position in China’s Communist Party?

The influence of the general secretary has waxed and waned over the decades as the leadership structure has changed.

20 May 2021 - 9:37AMvideocam

US-China relations

US charges China-based Zoom executive with disrupting Tiananmen crackdown memorial

Xinjiang Jin conspired to terminate at least four video meetings at the direction of China’s government, the US Department of Justice said.

19 Dec 2020 - 11:11PMvideocam

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Why the real legacy of June 4 in China may be economic reform

After June 4, the purge of liberals who wanted political reform may have given Deng Xiaoping the space he needed to keep economic reforms going when the communist bloc collapsed.

3 Jun 2019 - 9:00AMvideocam

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Communist Party reformer Hu Yaobang remembered in low-key ceremony

No official events held to mark 30th anniversary of his death, which sparked the 1989 pro-democracy movement and subsequent military crackdown.

16 Apr 2019 - 2:34PM

Hu Yaobang rises from the past with official statue in hometown

Hu’s death was one of the sparks for the Tiananmen Square protests; now the Communist Party is burnishing his reformist image

24 Nov 2018 - 11:07PM

HK$2.3 million in cash and valuables stolen from home of late Chinese leader Hu Yaobang’s granddaughter

18 Nov 2016 - 11:24PM

Police investigate the break-in at Sea Cliff Mansions in Repulse Bay. Photo: David Wong

Chinese President Xi Jinping pays tribute at centenary of late reformist leader Hu Yaobang

20 Nov 2015 - 11:42PMvideocam

***ONE TIME USE ONLY, PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE RE-USE - OTUO*** Hu Yaobang with his grandchildren in the 1980s. (Handout

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Update | Online censorship rolled back on 25th anniversary of death of reformist leader

The Chinese government on Tuesday took a more tolerant stance to online censorship on the anniversary of the death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, whose death 25 years ago today helped spark the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.

16 Apr 2014 - 12:17PM

Focus

The man who questioned Mao: Hu Yaobang's colleagues look back

After the communist regime seized control of China in 1949, the government's various political campaigns purged tens of millions of people through executions, prison terms and so-called re-education efforts.

15 Apr 2014 - 4:52PMvideocam

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Son of reformer Hu Yaobang rues lost chance for change, 25 years after his father’s death

China missed a golden opportunity for political reform in the 1980s and it is doubtful when the next one will come, says a son of Hu Yaobang, the widely respected late liberal leader.

15 Apr 2014 - 6:14PMvideocam

Son of reformer Hu Yaobang rues lost chance for change, 25 years after his father’s death

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Twenty-five years after his death, Hu Yaobang still remembered as pragmatic reformist

Twenty-five years after his death, Hu Yaobang is still remembered by many, even including some of his former foes, as one of the most popular Communist Party leaders for his pragmatic reform policies and humanistic, liberal-leaning approach.

15 Apr 2014 - 4:52PM

Hu Yaobang (left) with Deng Xiaoping at the fifth National People's Congress in 1978. Photo: AP

GlaxoSmithKline

Former Party leader Hu Yaobang's daughter denies allegations of wrongdoing

31 Jul 2013 - 3:59PM

A Good Week for ... , April 21, 2013

Hu Yaobang, the late reformist leader, has been a sensitive figure on the mainland since he was purged in 1987. But state media this week broke with tradition, heaping praise on the former party general secretary on the 24th anniversary of his death.

21 Apr 2013 - 4:56AM

State media offer rare praise for reformer Hu Yaobang

16 Apr 2013 - 4:53AM

Hu Yaobang reviews a military parade in Beijing in 1981. Photo: AP

Opinion | Remembering Chinese party leader Hu Yaobang still no easy task

29 Aug 2013 - 4:13AM

H7N9 virus

Morning Clicks | Qingming tributes are censored and Beijing invites Myanmar's opposition parties

29 Aug 2013 - 4:13AM

Tiananmen Square crackdown

Statue built to reformer whose death sparked Tiananmen

A statue of former Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, a reformer whose death sparked the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, has been set up in a coastal city.

7 Jan 2013 - 4:50PM

A statue of former Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang is unveiled in Taizhou, east China's Zhejiang province on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Briefs, November 2, 2012

2 Nov 2012 - 3:48AM

Tiananmen Square crackdown

61pc urge change in stance on Tiananmen

1 Jun 2012 - 12:00AM

Faction a good training ground for future leaders

5 May 2012 - 12:00AM

Rare eulogy to liberal party leader

4 Apr 2012 - 12:00AM

'They want to get rid of us'

9 Feb 2012 - 12:00AM

'They dare not tell people the truth'

2 Sep 2011 - 12:00AM

No release from oppression

26 Jun 2011 - 12:00AM

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