He served as Minister of Culture of the People'e Republic of China and deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
[1] He was born in Yi County, Shandong Province, Republic of China on November 5, 1924.
[2]: 151 He continued writing from the 1940s, such as Collection of Fangge (放歌集), Selected of He Jingzhi Poetry (贺敬之诗选), Return to Yan'an (回延安), Song of Leifeng (雷锋之歌) and China's October (中国的十月).
Return to Yan'an is often considered his masterpiece and was included in many editions of school text books.
[3] He married Ke Yan (Chinese: 柯岩; pinyin: Kē Yán; 1924-2011) in October 1953, who was also a poet.