View source for Hu Yaobang

'''Hu Yaobang''' was a leading politician of the [[People's Republic of China]] in the [[Deng Xiaoping]] era. From 1981 to 1987, he led the [[Communist Party of China]], first as Chairman until 1982, then as General Secretary.

Hu was purged twice in the [[Cultural Revolution]]. After Deng rose to power, Hu played a major role in the [[Boluan Fanzheng]] rehabilitations.

Throughout the 1980s, he pursued a series of economic and political reforms in a liberal direction. In 1987, his conservative opponents forced him to resign as General Secretary, though he remained in the Politburo. He was succeeded by his close ally [[Zhao Ziyang]], who has been called the "[[Gorbachev]] of China"<ref name="zhao"/>.

Hu died in April 1989, causing the next day a small-scale unofficial commemoration in Beijing, which became an organizing ground for liberals. A week later, the [[Tiananmen Square protests]] began, supported<ref name="zhao">See [[Zhao Ziyang]]</ref> by Zhao Ziyang.

The Chinese government censored details of Hu's life for years. After [[Zhao Ziyang]] died in January 2005,<ref name="zhao"/> in late 2005 [[Hu Jintao]] ended the censorship and declared a commemoration of Hu Yaobang.

==See also==
* [[Zhao Ziyang]]
* [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests]]

==References==

[[Category:China]]
[[Category:Revisionism]]
[[Category:Needs Citations]]