Editing Hu Yaobang (section)

===Young revolutionary===
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2017}}
[[File:Huyaobang at yanan.jpg|thumb|left|Hu Yaobang at Yan'an in the 1930s]]
Hu Yaobang's ancestors were [[Hakka]]s<ref>Gladney 25</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:回忆父亲胡耀邦(十) |language=zh-hans |url=http://news.163.com/05/1208/11/24EQ8C7R00011ND3.html |access-date=23 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103003106/http://news.163.com/05/1208/11/24EQ8C7R00011ND3.html |archive-date=3 January 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> from [[Jiangxi]]. During the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) they migrated into [[Hunan]], where Hu was born.<ref name="Lee308">Lee 308</ref> Hu Yaobang was born into a poor peasant family.<ref name=":322">{{Cite book |last=Hammond |first=Ken |title=China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future |publisher=1804 Books |year=2023 |isbn=9781736850084 |location=New York, NY |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=138}} He did not receive a formal education and taught himself to read.<ref name=":322" />{{Rp|page=138}}

Hu participated in his [[Autumn Harvest Uprising|first rebellion]] when he was twelve and left his family to join the [[Chinese Communist Party]] when he was only fourteen,<ref name="Kristof2">Kristof 2</ref> becoming a full member of the Party in 1933.<ref name="britannica">''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> During the factional struggles that polarized the CCP during the 1930s, Hu supported Mao Zedong and opposed the [[28 Bolsheviks]].

Hu was one of the youngest veterans of the [[Long March]].<ref name="kristof3">Kristof 3</ref> Once Mao was removed from power, shortly before the beginning of the [[Fourth Encirclement Campaign]], Mao's supporters were persecuted, and Hu Yaobang was sentenced to death. Just before the beginning of the Long March, he and others were on their way to be beheaded. However, a powerful local communist commander named [[Tan Yubao]] intervened at the last minute, saving Hu's life. Because of Hu's support of Mao, he was deemed unreliable and ordered to join the Long March so that he could be placed under surveillance.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hu-Yaobang|title=Hu Yaobang &#124; Chinese political leader &#124; Britannica |date=14 March 2024 }}</ref>

Hu Yaobang was seriously wounded in the battle of [[Mount Lu]], near [[Zunyi]], close to the area where Mao Zedong rose back to power via the [[Zunyi Conference]].<ref>Lee 310</ref> After Hu was wounded, the communist field medic teams chose not to help Hu, and left him in the battlefield to die on the side of the road. Hu was rescued by a childhood friend of his, a [[People's Liberation Army|Chinese Red Army]] commander, who happened to pass by. Hu called out his friend's nickname to ask for help, and the friend helped him catch up with the retreating main force of the Chinese Red Army and get treatment for his wounds.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

Hu was taken prisoner by the KMT during the Long March.<ref name=":322" />{{Rp|page=138}} In 1936, Hu had joined an expeditionary force led by [[Zhang Guotao]]. The objective of Zhang's 21,800+ strong force, was to cross the [[Yellow River]], to expand the communist base west of [[Shaanxi]], and to link up with forces from the [[Soviet Union]] or with the [[Xinjiang]] warlord [[Sheng Shicai]], who was an ally of the communists and the Soviet Union. Zhang Guotao's forces were soundly defeated by the local [[Kuomintang|Nationalist]] warlords, the [[Ma clique]]. Hu Yaobang, along with [[Qin Jiwei]], became two of the thousands of prisoners-of-war captured by Ma clique's forces. Hu was one of only 1,500 prisoners-of-war whom [[Ma Bufang]] decided to use as forced labor rather than execute.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

[[File:Hu Yaobang Li zhao.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Hu Yaobang and his wife Li Zhao]]
Ma Bufang sent several Muslim cavalry divisions under General [[Ma Biao (general)|Ma Biao]] to fight against the Japanese. However [[Chiang Kai-shek]] pressured Ma Bufang to contribute even more of his troops to fight [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] invaders, Ma Bufang decided that, instead of using more of his own troops, he would instead send the 1,500 Chinese Red Army prisoners-of-war as conscripts. Since the marching route had to pass the border of the communist base in Shaanxi, Hu Yaobang and Qin Jiwei decided to return to the Communists, and secretly organized an escape. The escape took place as planned and was a success: out of the total 1,500 POWs, more than 1,300 successfully returned to [[Yan'an]]. Mao personally welcomed these returning communists, and Hu Yaobang returned to communist forces, where he would remain for rest of his life.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}

After Hu arrived in [[Yan'an]], he attended the Anti-Japanese Military School. While studying in Yan'an, Hu met and married his wife, Li Zhao, who was also a student in Yan'an. After his training, Hu worked in the political department, and was assigned to work as a member of [[Peng Dehuai]]'s Third Front Army.<ref>Lee 310–311</ref>

Hu befriended and worked closely with Deng Xiaoping in the 1930s. In the 1940s, Hu worked under Deng as a political commissar in the Second Field Army. In the final stages of the [[Chinese Civil War]], Hu accompanied Deng to [[Sichuan]], and communist forces successfully took control of the province from Nationalist forces in 1949.<ref name="britannica" />