Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, president of China from 2003 to 2013, chairman of the Party Central Military Commission (CMC) from 2004 to 2012 and chairman of the State Central Military Commission from 2005 to 2013. He was a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, from 1992 to 2012, and served as the paramount leader of China from 2002 to 2012.
Born in Tai County, Jiangsu, Hu studied engineering at Tsinghua University, joining the CCP while in college. First working as a political counselor at Tsinghua, Hu later worked as an engineer in Gansu, later joining the province's Construction Department. He led the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) branch in Gansu before joining the CYLC leadership in Beijing, eventually becoming the first secretary of the CYLC. Hu was appointed as Party Committee secretary for Guizhou and the Tibet Autonomous Region, where his harsh repression of dissent gained him attention from Beijing. He became a member of the CCP Central Secretariat and vice president under CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin, becoming Jiang's presumed successor as paramount leader.
Hu reintroduced state control in some sectors of the economy that were relaxed by the previous administration, and provided support for state-owned enterprises. He oversaw the response to the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, as well as a significant increase in national healthcare coverage. He sought to improve socio-economic equality under his Scientific Outlook on Development, which aimed to build a Harmonious Society that was prosperous and free of social conflict. His leadership responded to the 2008 Tibetan unrest, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the 2009 Ürümqi riots. He oversaw the passing of the Anti-Secession Law, which laid conditions for authorizing military force for unification with Taiwan, and later saw closer relations with Taiwan, leading to the signing of the trade agreement Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2010. Hu advocated for China's peaceful rise, pursuing a corporate and soft power approach to China's diplomacy. Throughout Hu's tenure, China's influence in Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions increased. Hu won praise for retiring voluntarily from all positions, succeeded by Xi Jinping.
Hu possessed a reserved and collective leadership style, making him an enigmatic figure in the public eye. His administration was known for technocratic competence and cautious political reforms. Alongside Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, Hu presided over a decade of consistent economic growth and development that cemented China as a major world power. Following Jiang's death, Hu is the only living former paramount leader of the People's Republic of China.
Early life, education, and family
Hu Jintao was born on 21 December 1942 in Tai County, Jiangsu province, which was under Japanese occupation at the time. He is a direct descendant of the Ming dynasty general Hu Zongxian, known for fighting Japanese pirates. His branch of the family migrated from Jixi County, Anhui to Taizhou during his grandfather's generation. Though his father owned a small tea trading business in Taizhou, the family was relatively poor. His mother was a teacher and died when he was 7, and he was raised by an aunt. Hu's father was denounced during the Cultural Revolution, an event that (together with his relatively humble origins) apparently had a deep effect upon Hu, who diligently tried to clear his father's name.
He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in April 1964. That year he graduated from Tsinghua University after studying hub hydropower stations at the Water Conservancy Engineering Department. He worked as a political counselor at Tsinghua. In July 1965, Hu began work as an engineer. initially during the Cultural Revolution, Hu remained in Beijing. In 1968, during the Third Front construction, Hu volunteered for his service in Gansu and worked on the construction of Liujiaxia Hydroelectric Station, while also managing CCP affairs for the local branch of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power. He became a technician in the plant, subsequently becoming office assistant and then becoming its deputy CCP secretary. From 1969 to 1974, he worked for Sinohydro Engineering Bureau, where he occupied the same roles.
In 1970, Hu married Liu Yongqing, whom he had met at Tsinghua University when they were studying there. They have two children together, Hu Haifeng and Hu Haiqing, their children-in-law named Frances Yung and Mao Daolin. He has been noted for his liking of table tennis and ballroom dancing. His four grandchildren: Alison, Helen, Cordelia, Mel, were presented into public eye at 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. Alison began career in finance at Morgan Stanley, supporting global institutional client relationships and advancing the firm’s strategy on emerging equity markets and financial technology, Helen focuses on bringing innovative technology solutions to national security challenges and specializes in cyber operations and cybersecurity issues; both Alison and Helen took part in his state visit to Russia in 2010.
In 1974, Hu was transferred to the Construction Department of Gansu as a secretary. The next year he was promoted to deputy senior party secretary. In 1980, Deng Xiaoping implemented the "Four Transformations" program, which aimed to produce communist leaders who were "more revolutionary, younger, more knowledgeable, and more specialized." In response to this nationwide search for young party members, Song Ping, the first secretary of CCP Gansu Committee (Gansu's governor) discovered Hu Jintao and promoted him several ranks to the position of deputy head of the commission. Another protégé of Song, Wen Jiabao, also became prominent at the same time.
In 1982, with the assistance of Song, Hu was promoted to the position of Communist Youth League Gansu Branch secretary and was appointed as the director of the All-China Youth Federation. His mentor, Song Ping, was transferred to Beijing as Minister of Organization of the Chinese Communist Party, and was in charge of senior cadres' recommendation, candidacy and promotion. With the support of Hu Yaobang (no relation) and Deng Xiaoping, Hu was assured of a bright future in the party. At Song Ping's suggestion, in 1982 central CCP authorities invited Hu to Beijing to study at the Central Party School. Soon after, he was transferred to Beijing and appointed to a position in the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC). Two years later Hu was promoted to first secretary of the CYLC, thus its actual leader. During his term in the Youth League, Hu escorted Hu Yaobang, who was CCP general secretary then, in visits around the country. Hu Yaobang, himself a veteran coming from the Youth League, could reminiscence his youth through Hu's company.
In 1985, Communist Party general secretary Hu Yaobang pushed for Hu Jintao to be transferred to Guizhou as the provincial Committee secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Hu attempted to improve the economy of the backwater province, and reputedly visited all of its eighty-six counties. While in Guizhou, Hu was careful to follow Beijing's directives and had a reputation of being "airtight"; he rarely would offer his views on policy matters in public. While Hu was generally seen as an official with integrity and honesty, some locals preferred his predecessor Zhu Houze. In 1987, Hu Jintao handled the local students protest parallel to the Democracy Wall carefully, whereas in Beijing similar protests resulted in Hu Yaobang's forced resignation.
In 1988, Hu Jintao was transferred to become Party Regional Committee secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, while also taking on the role of Political commissar of the local People's Liberation Army units. This made Hu effectively the number-one figure in the vast, restive region. Under Hu's governance, the government has sharply escalated systemic repression, authorities arbitrarily detain human rights defenders, tightly control civil society, and continue to impose strict controls on movement.