Hu Yaobang

Joining the Communist Party of China in 1933, he worked many positions in the party. He became one of the important political leader in the CPC after the Cultural Revolution.

As Deng Xiaoping gradually regained control over the CPC, Deng's rival Hua Guofeng was replaced by Zhao Ziyang as Premier of the People's Republic of China in 1980, and by Hu Yaobang as Party Chairman in 1981. Until the mid-1990s, Deng was the most influential Chinese leader although his sole official title was that of chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission.

Hu was one of the most important partners of Deng Xiaoping and a reformer of the country. However, he was blamed by Deng as he failed to control the student demonstrations in 1986. He was forced to resign in 1987, as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. He passed away two years later on April 15, 1989. His death was also one of the main reasons that sparked the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

See also: Politics of China, History of the People's Republic of China