Hu Chunhua

Hu Chunhua (born April 1963) is a Chinese politician.

He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since 2023.

Hu was born into a family of farmers in Wufeng County, Yichang, Hubei province in 1963.

In 1979, he ranked first in the county for the Gaokao examination.

At age 16, he was the youngest in his class.

He received his B.A. degree from Peking University in August 1983, majoring in Chinese language and literature.

At Peking University he was friends with Li Keqiang, who was also attending Peking University at the time.

After graduation, he went to work in Tibet, starting as a cadre in the Organization Department of the Communist Youth League.

From 1997 to 2001 Hu served in the Secretariat of the Communist Youth League and as a Vice Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation.

Hu subsequently held various government and Youth League positions in Tibet, ultimately serving as deputy secretary of the CCP Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee from November 2003 to November 2006 and vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government from November 2003 to November 2005.

In Tibet, Hu played an instrumental role in developing the Tibetan economy, curbing the independence movement, and the settlement of more Han Chinese into region.

After serving various roles in Tibet, he rose through the ranks of the Communist Youth League, eventually returning to Beijing and becoming its first secretary in 2006.

He returned to Beijing to become the First Secretary of the Communist Youth League from December 2006 to March 2008.

At the 17th Party Congress in the fall of 2007, Hu Chunhua became a member of the Central Committee.

In 2008, he was appointed as the governor of Hebei.

On April 15, 2008, he was appointed as the acting Governor of Hebei, China's youngest.

While serving in Hebei, Hu came into the limelight during the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which had roots in Hebei province.

He came out of the incident unscathed, some say as a result of his closeness to CCP general secretary Hu Jintao.

He also took part in the security preparations of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and advocated increasing domestic consumption in response to the global financial crisis of 2007–08.

He was reassigned to the post of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee secretary of Inner Mongolia in 2009, a post he held until 2012.

On January 12, 2009, he was officially elected Governor.

In Hebei, Hu had the reputation of working 'non-stop', visiting all of the province's 11 prefecture-level cities within a few months.

In November 2009, he was appointed Regional Party Secretary of Inner Mongolia.

He was also elected Chairman of the Inner Mongolia People's Congress in January 2010.

Not long after he took charge of the vast northern region, Hu embarked on a plan to rebalance growth in the region.

Under Hu's predecessor Chu Bo, Inner Mongolia saw explosive GDP growth that was the result of developing natural resources.

The region's GDP growth ranked highest amongst province-level entities in the country for eight consecutive years.

However, the growth opened a large wealth gap, with endemic profiteering from local officials, and a divide between the resource-rich western part of the region (Hohhot, Baotou, and Ordos) and the stagnant industrial-based eastern part (Chifeng, Tongliao, Hulunbuir).

In response, Hu remarked that Inner Mongolia will no longer aspire to be ranked first in GDP growth, but rather focus on sustaining the "quality" and "efficiency" of growth.

Hu believed that dogmatically pursuing a mere increase in economic output did not benefit everyone in the region, particularly farmers and nomadic herders, pointing out that the large mining projects had brought significant wealth which did not trickle down to the grassroots.

He stressed that one of the priorities of his administration would be assuring equitable policies in the relocation, employment and social welfare of nomadic peoples.

Hu also sought to reform tax policy to give more bargaining power to local government and local interests in assessing potential mining projects by large state-owned natural resource companies.

In 2012, he became the CCP secretary of Guangdong, as well as a member of the CCP Politburo.

During his time in Guangdong lasting until 2017, Hu launched anti-corruption campaigns and earned reputation as a low-key leader.

From 2018 to 2023, he served as Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Born in Yichang, Hubei, Hu first entered politics by working as a cadre of the Communist Youth League in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Hu became a vice premier of China in 2018, a post he served until 2023.

He left the Politburo in 2022, after the 20th CCP National Congress, though he kept his membership to the CCP Central Committee.

In March 2023, he became a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Hu is popularly known as "Heir apparent of Tuanpai" due to the similarities of his career with that of former CCP general secretary Hu Jintao and Li Keqiang.