Prior to his elevation to the Politburo, Ding served successively as Minister of Railways of China between 1985 and 1988, the chief of the Taiwan Affairs Office between 1988 and 1990, and the head of the United Front Work Department of the party between 1990 and 1992.
Ding was elevated to the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1987, and was expected to take on more prominent posts.
He thus became the first politburo member, i.e., Party and nation's leader, who served as a vice Minister in the government after Cultural Revolution.
Since 1992, Ding had served as the head of Central Propaganda Department of CCP, responsible for ideological affairs for 10 years.
Ding died July 22, 2012, in Beijing at the age of 83, he was eulogized by the party as a "long-tested fighter of the Communist cause".