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==Reformer== ===Public policies=== Hu Yaobang's rise to power was engineered by Deng Xiaoping, and Hu rose to the highest levels of the Party after Deng displaced [[Hua Guofeng]] as China's "[[paramount leader]]". In 1980 Hu became [[First Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|General Secretary of the Central Committee's Secretariat]], and was elected to the powerful [[Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|Politburo Standing Committee]]. In 1981, Hu became [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Chairman]], but helped abolish the position of Party chairman in 1982, as part of a broader effort to distance China from Maoist politics. Most of the chairman's functions were transferred to the post of General Secretary, a post taken by Hu. Deng's displacement of Hua Guofeng marked the Party leadership's consensus that China should abandon strict Maoist economics in favor of more pragmatic policies, and Hu directed many of Deng's attempts to reform the Chinese economy.<ref name="britannica" /> By 1982, Hu was the second most powerful person in China, after Deng.<ref>Forney</ref> Throughout the last decade of Hu's career, he promoted the role of intellectuals as being fundamental to China's achievement of the [[Four Modernizations]].<ref name="ribao1" /> During the early 1980s, Deng referred to Hu and [[Zhao Ziyang]] as his "left and right hands".<ref name="Wu">Wu</ref> After advancing to the position of general secretary, Hu promoted a number of political reforms, often collaborating with Zhao. The ultimate goals of Hu's reforms were sometimes vaguely defined. Hu attempted to reform China's political system by: requiring candidates to be directly elected in order to enter the Politburo; holding more elections with more than one candidate; increasing government transparency; increasing public consultation before determining Party policy; and, increasing the degree to which government officials could be held directly responsible for their mistakes.<ref name="independent">Becker</ref> During his time in office, Hu tried to rehabilitate the people who were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. Many Chinese people think that this was his most important achievement. He was also in favor of a pragmatic policy in the [[Tibet Autonomous Region]] after realising the mistakes of previous policies. He ordered the withdrawal of thousands of Han Chinese cadres from the Tibet Autonomous Region following a May 1980 visit to the region, believing that Tibetans and Uyghurs should be empowered to administer their own affairs.<ref>''The Australian''</ref> Hu reduced the number of Han party cadre, and relaxed social controls.<ref name=":05">{{Cite book |last=Lampton |first=David M. |title=Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-1-5381-8725-8 |location=Lanham, MD |pages= |author-link=David M. Lampton}}</ref>{{Rp|page=240}} Han Chinese who remained were required to learn Tibetan and Uyghur.<ref name=bass>Bass 52</ref> He set out six requirements to improve 'existing conditions', including the increase of state funds to the Tibet Autonomous Region, improvements in education, and efforts to revive Tibetan and Uyghur culture.<ref>Bass 51–52</ref> At the same time, Hu stated that "anything that is not suited to Tibet's conditions should be rejected or modified".<ref name=bass/> Hu made a point of explicitly apologizing to Tibetans for China's misrule of the region during this trip. He also declared to cancel Bingtuan (soldier farmers) in [[Xinjiang|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]], but he failed to do so due to [[Wang Zhen (general)|Wang Zhen]]'s against.{{clarification needed|date=November 2024}} Later his ethnic policy has been criticized by some high-level officials such as [[Deng Liqun]], as well as some [[Han nationalism|Han nationalists]] who think Hu Yaobang have given too many [[Social privilege]] to ethnic minorities.<ref name="Lee 311" /> Hu traveled widely throughout his time as general secretary, visiting 1500 individual districts and villages in order to inspect the work of local officials and to keep in touch with the common people. In 1971, Hu retraced the route of the [[Long March]], and took the opportunity to visit and inspect remote military bases located in Tibet, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Yunnan, [[Qinghai]], and [[Inner Mongolia]].<ref name="lee312">Lee 312</ref> ===Controversial political opinions=== Hu was notable for his liberalism and the frank expression of his opinions, which sometimes agitated other senior Chinese leaders. On a trip to [[Inner Mongolia]] in 1984, Hu publicly suggested that Chinese people might start eating in a Western way (with forks and knives, on individual plates) in order to prevent communicable diseases. He was one of the first Chinese officials to abandon wearing a [[Mao suit]] in favor of Western business suits. When asked which of [[Maoism|Mao Zedong's theories]] were desirable for modern China, he reportedly replied "I think, none".<ref name="Kristof1">Kristof 1</ref> Hu was not prepared to abandon Marxism completely, but frankly expressed the opinion that Communism could not solve "all of mankind's problems". Hu encouraged intellectuals to raise controversial subjects in the media, including democracy, human rights, and the possibility of introducing legal limits to the Communist Party's influence within the Chinese government. Many party elders mistrusted Hu from the start and eventually grew to fear his influence.<ref name="lee312" /> The ire of some of the [[Eight Elders]] ultimately contributed to his forced resignation from the post of general secretary.<ref name=":Hirata">{{Cite book |last=Hirata |first=Koji |title=Making Mao's Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-38227-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China series |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=276-277}} Hu made sincere efforts to repair [[China–Japan relations|Sino-Japanese relations]], but was criticized for the scope of his efforts. In 1984, when Beijing recognized the twelfth anniversary of Japan's diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic, Hu invited 3,000 Japanese youth to Beijing, and arranged for them to tour Shanghai, [[Hangzhou]], [[Nanjing]], [[Wuhan]], and [[Xi'an]]. Many senior officials considered Hu's efforts extravagant, since Japan had only invited 500 Chinese youths to Japan the previous year. Hu was criticized internally for the lavish gifts that he gave to visiting Japanese officials, and for allowing his daughter to privately accompany Japanese prime minister [[Yasuhiro Nakasone|Nakasone]]'s son when they visited Beijing. Hu defended his actions by citing the importance of strong Sino-Japanese relations, and his belief that the atrocities committed by Japan in China during [[World War II]] were the actions of military warlords, and not ordinary citizens.<ref>Lee 311–312</ref> Hu alienated potential allies within the People's Liberation Army when he suggested for two consecutive years that the Chinese defense budget should be reduced, and senior military leaders began to criticize him. Military officials accused Hu of making poor choices when purchasing military hardware from Australia in 1985. When Hu visited Britain, military officials criticized him for drinking soup too loudly during a banquet hosted by Queen [[Elizabeth II]].<ref name="lee313-314">Lee 313–314</ref> Zhao and Hu began a large-scale anti-corruption programme, and permitted the investigations of the children of high-ranking Party elders, who had grown up protected by their parents' influence. Hu's investigation of Party officials belonging to this "[[Crown Prince Party]]" made Hu unpopular with many powerful Party officials.<ref name="independent" /> After Deng refused to support some of Hu's reforms, Hu made private comments critical of [[Deng Xiaoping]] for his indecisiveness and "old-fashioned" way of thinking, opinions of which Deng eventually became aware.<ref name="Lee314">Lee 314</ref> ===Resignation=== In December 1986, a group of students organized public protests across over a dozen cities in support of political and [[economic liberalization]]. The protests began in the [[University of Science and Technology of China|University of Science and Technology]] in [[Hefei]], Anhui, where they were led by the activist and astrophysicist, [[Fang Lizhi]], who was then vice president of the university. Fang talked openly about introducing political reforms which would end the influence of the Communist Party within the Chinese government. The protests were also led by two other "radical intellectuals", [[Wang Ruowang]] and [[Liu Binyan]].<ref name="lee313-314" /> Deng Xiaoping disliked all three leaders, and ordered Hu to dismiss them from the Party in order to silence them, but Hu Yaobang refused.<ref name="Lee314" /> In January 1987, after two weeks of student protests demanding greater Western-style freedoms,<ref name="britannica" /> a clique of Party elders, senior military officials and Deng Xiaoping forced Hu to resign on the grounds that he had been too lenient with student protesters and for moving too quickly towards free market-style economic reforms.<ref name="Kristof2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Béja |first1=Jean-Philippe |last2=Goldman |first2=Merle |date=2009-06-01 |title=The Impact of the June 4th Massacre on the pro-Democracy Movement |journal=China Perspectives |volume=2009 |issue=2 |pages=18–28 |doi=10.4000/chinaperspectives.4801 |s2cid=142896365 |issn=2070-3449|doi-access=free }}</ref> After Hu's forced dismissal, Deng Xiaoping promoted [[Zhao Ziyang]] to replace the liberal Hu as Party general secretary, putting Zhao in a position to succeed Deng as "paramount leader".<ref name="independent" /> Hu officially resigned as Party general secretary on 16 January, but retained his seat in the Politburo Standing Committee.<ref name="britannica" /> When Hu "resigned", the Party forced him to issue a humiliating "self-criticism of his mistakes on major issues of political principles in violation of the party's principle of collective leadership". During the event, which consisted of all of the Elders, Politburo, Secretariat, and the Central Advisory Commission, all of his allies abandoned him with the exception of his close friend, [[Xi Zhongxun]], who stood up and defended him and lashed out at everybody for Hu's treatment. Hu had to keep Xi from losing his temper, telling him "Don't worry about it, Zhongxun, I've got this."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Suettinger|first=Robert|date=December 2021|title=Hu Yaobang is Seen as 'More of a Reformer Than Deng Xiaoping,' Says Hu Biographer.|url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/tiananmen-scholar-06072021030902.html|access-date=1 March 2021|publisher=Radio Free Asia}}</ref> After that, Hu became more reclusive and less active in Chinese politics, studying revolutionary history and practicing his calligraphy in his spare time, and taking long walks for exercise.<ref name="kristof3" /> Hu was generally viewed as having no real power after his resignation, and he was relegated to largely ceremonial roles.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Hu's "resignation" harmed the credibility of the CCP while improving Hu's own. Among Chinese intellectuals Hu became an example of a man who refused to compromise his convictions in the face of political resistance, and who had paid the price as a result. The promotion of a conservative, [[Li Peng]], to the position of premier after Hu's departure from executive-level positions made the government less enthusiastic to pursue reform, and upset plans of an orderly succession of power from Deng Xiaoping to any politician similar to Hu.<ref name="Kristof1" />
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