Hu Sheng (11 January 1918 – 5 November 2000), was a Chinese Marxist theorist and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

. He was President of the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

from 1985 to 1998, and also served as Vice-Chairman of the seventh and eighth National Committees of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

and member of the

12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 12th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from September 1982 to November 1987. It held seven plenary sessions. It was securely succeeded by the 13th Central Committee. It elected the 12th Politburo of the Chinese ...

Biography

Hu was born on 11 January 1918 in

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

. He enrolled in the philosophy Department of

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

in the year of 1934. He started involving in the communist revolutionary activities in Shanghai from 1935, mainly in the cultural activities and campaigns of resistance led by the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

against the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese. After the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

broke out in 1937, he moved to

Central China Central China () is a geographical and a loosely defined cultural region that includes the provinces of Henan, Hubei and Hunan. Jiangxi is sometimes also regarded to be part of this region. Central China is now officially part of South Cent ...

and joined the Chinese Communist Party. From the age of 17 to 30, Hu wrote numerous articles for the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and other progressive newspapers and magazines and his published works summed up more than 1 million Chinese characters and had a great impact on ideological and cultural circles as well as young intellectuals. Hu was responsible for the Party's theory research and publicity works for a long time after the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was formed in 1949. He also wrote a number of major works on Chinese and the Chinese Communist Party's history. He was the president of the

from 1985 to 1998. In 1996, Hu donated most of his books to a library in

Hubei Province Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

and established a fund to award outstanding young intellectuals. He became the member of the

from 1982 to 1987. In 1988, he became the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the 7th

. He served for the second term and retired from office in 1998. He was also vice chairman of the

Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) was formed in June 1985 for the drafts of the Hong Kong Basic Law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after 1997. It was formed as a working group ...

which was responsible for drafting the

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 a ...

, the constitution of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after it was handed over to China 1997. Hu died of an illness on 5 November 2000 in Shanghai at the age of 82. Entrusted by the party's Central Committee, the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...

came to Shanghai to bid farewell to Hu Sheng, and to convey to Hu Sheng's family members. There were also concerns expressed from

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as p ...

and other members of the

Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

of the party's Central Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Sheng 1918 births 2000 deaths National University of Peking alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangsu Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference People's Republic of China philosophers Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Writers from Suzhou People's Republic of China historians Marxist historians Historians from Jiangsu Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee members Politicians from Suzhou 20th-century Chinese historians