Hu Yaobang

If you make the mistake of capitalism, you should not be criticized. But we should have self-criticism.

Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915 - 15 April 1989) was the Chairman of the Communist Party of China (1981-1982) and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (1980-1987).

Quotes

• We are against the world war being fomented by the superpowers and also against all the local wars of aggression which they instigate or back.
  • Taiwan Communique and Separation of Powers: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, pp. 199 (1983)

• We should prepare more knives and forks, buy more plates and sit around the table to eat Chinese food in the Western style, that is, each from his own plate. By doing so, we can avoid contagious diseases.
  • "After Thousands of Years, China Changes its Tune on Chopsticks" in Chicago Tribune (1 January 1985)

• If you make the mistake of capitalism, you should not be criticized. But we should have self-criticism.
  • In 1980, during his inspection tour in Tibet, as quoted in Southern Mongolia: Self-Determination Activist Tortured in Prison and Kept Under House Arrest

• Journalists should give 80 percent of space to reporting good things and achievements and 20 percent to criticizing the seamy side of things and expose our shortcomings [...] This conforms with the reality of society.
  • China - The Television Revolution: Nancy K. Rivenburgh, pp. 15 (1988)

• We should not blame foreigners for problems afflicting China. There are things in the West that should be considered acceptable to us, and things that are unacceptable. It is up to us to decide.
  • "Party Leader Says China To Extend Economic Reform" in The Washington Post (24 September 1986)

Quotes about Hu

His biggest contribution [to China] is that he had helped restore order and right the wrongs. ~ Hu Dehua

• Hu Yaobang neither put his own, nor the Communist Party's grip of power before [the welfare] of the people. It was in his belief that people would live a better life should there be no intervention from country leaders and that the economy and society would revive itself should the party impose no social and economic controls. I'd say that no Chinese leaders before or after Hu have shared his vision or style of governance.
  • Xia Ming, "Chinese Dissidents Remember Liberal Reformer Hu Yaobang" (15 April 2019), Voice of America

• His biggest contribution [to China] is that he had helped restore order and right the wrongs.
  • Hu Dehua, "Chinese Dissidents Remember Liberal Reformer Hu Yaobang" (15 April 2019), Voice of America

• When I recalled [what] Hu Yaobang [had achieved] some 30 years ago, I deeply felt as if that was from another life. China has become a different country… And by his example, you can tell how much this [communist] party has backtracked.
  • Wang Dan, "Chinese Dissidents Remember Liberal Reformer Hu Yaobang" (15 April 2019), Voice of America

• I was always interested in Hu Yaobang. I was working in the U.S. government during the time when he was general secretary, and I always found him to be a very interesting man. He was not a typical leader. He was just a little short guy, had a very high voice, very kind of bouncy and interested in discussions of issues and so forth. He was not a kind of a Mao type, or even a Deng Xiaoping type -- a great leader figure. So I thought that was interesting. And the more I looked at the period of time when he was in office, the more it began to occur to me that that he was more of a reformer than Deng Xiaoping. Deng Xiaoping gets a lot of credit for the PRC reform efforts, and in some cases and there's a fair number of Chinese writers who actually believe that Deng does not deserve the credit that he's gotten.
  • Robert Suettinger, "Hu Yaobang is Seen as 'More of a Reformer Than Deng Xiaoping,' Says Hu Biographer." (7 June 2016), Radio Free Asia