Hu Qiaomu
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Hu Qiaomu (Traditional Chinese: 胡喬木, Simplified Chinese: 胡乔木, Pinyin: Hú Qiáomù) (1912-1992), was a revolutionary, sociologist, Marxism philosopher and prominent politician of People's Republic of China. In the age of economic reform that followed the death of Mao Zedong, Hu was one of the reform's most prominent opponents.
He was the first president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, member of Politburo of the Communist Party of China, permanent member of Central Advisory Commission, and the former president of Xinhua News Agency [1]. He was an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (1955 election) [2].
[edit] Early Career
Born in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province in 1912, Hu graduated from the Department of Foreign Literature, College of Arts and Sciences, National Chekiang University in 1935. Before this, he also studied history in National Tsinghua University (in Beijing) during 1930-1932.
He joined the Communist Youth League of China in 1930 and the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1932. In the early part of his career, he was, in chronological order, the party secretary (Communist Youth League of China) in Xijiao District, Beiping City (now Beijing); the head of the Propaganda Department (Communist Youth League of China) in Xijiao District, Beiping City. He was a leader of anti-Japanese student & worker movement in Beiping. 1936, he became the general secretary of Chinese Sociologist League (中国社会科学家联盟), the general secretary of Chinese Leftism Cultural League (中国左翼文化界总同盟), and a member of CPC Jiangsu Province Temporary Committee of Labours (中国共产党江苏省临时工人委员会).
From Feb 1941 (some say 1942) to Jun 1966, he was Mao Zedong[3]'s main secretary. In the beginning, his secretarial work was mainly focused on culture, but later shifted to politics. His secretarial career was ended by the Great Cultural Revolution.
From Oct 1, 1949 - Oct 19, 1949, he was the president of Xinhua News Agency. He also was the head of the News Office, People's Republic of China; the vice president of Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee; the general secretary of the Central Government Culture and Education Committee; the vice general secretary of the Central Government. 1954, He also participated in making the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. 1956, Hu was elected to be a member of the Eighth Politburo of the Communist Party of China, and the alternative secretary of Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. 1977, he became the first president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, later on, advisor and the honorary president.
[edit] Post Cultural Revolution Hardliner
After the death of Mao, Economic Reform began under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Hu Qiaomu was one its most prominent opponents. Hu and Deng Liqun, another hard-line leader in the propaganda department, made every effort to fight against reform, with efforts such as the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign in 1983 mainly targeted against critics of the Cultural Revolution and the Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign in 1987 which essentially targeted reformers. Hu Qiaomu and Deng Liqun were instrumental in the ousters of the liberal general secretaries Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang, by winning Deng Xiaoping to their side. Hu Qiaomu applauded the use of force against the students in 1989, and called for stricter political indoctrination.
Efforts of the hardliners like Hu Qiaomu, were finally put to an end, at least in economics, by Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in the spring of 1992. Hu Qiaomu died later that year, in September, at the age of 81.[4]
[edit] References
- Two Pens of CPC - Hu Qiaomu & Zhou Yang including Photo (Chinese)
- Hu Qiaomu Was A Pen in Central Committee of the CCP (English)
- Brief introduction to Hu Qiaomu (Chinese)
- Hu Qiaomu - A pen of the central government, from Sina Book-reading (Chinese)
- Notes from People's Daily (English)
- New York Times: Hu Qiaomu, a Chinese Hard-liner, Is Dead at 81 (English)
- "The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng" Edited by Roderick MacFarquhar, published by Cambridge University Press, 1997.
