[2] As of April 2024, Hu Qili is the only living member of 13th Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC from the first three plenary sessions.
When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Hu changed his studies to focus on politics.
[4] During the Cultural Revolution, Hu began to work in the lower levels of the May Seventh Cadre Schools.
[3] On 15 April 1989, after the death of former General Secretary Hu Yaobang, Beijing university students began to assemble in Tiananmen Square to protest.
Hu followed Zhao's instructions and began a propaganda policy for openness and tolerance in engaging the students in dialogue.
Zhao refused to accept the command to institute martial law as proposed by Premier Li Peng.
They approved a decision made two days earlier at a meeting of the Politburo to strip Hu and Zhao as well as Rui Xingwen and Yan Mingfu of their party posts.
[3] In 1998, Hu was elected vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
[9] Hu became chairman of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation in 2001, which deals with Chinese charities and welfare projects.