with Chinese charities and welfare projects. Hu retired from office in March 2003. Significance Hu Qili was known in the 1980s because of the country's economic reform program champion. After Deng Xiaoping returned to government in 1978, Hu started to rise rapidly. Hu was also once seen as a potential future candidate for General Secretary (party leader). After 1987, Hu was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee, was purged apparently because of sympathies he held for the students carrying out the Tiananmen Square protests and opposed use of armed force to suppress those student and public peoples. References External links Biography of Hu Qili, People's Daily Online. 1929 births Living people Mayors of Tianjin Politicians from Yulin, Shaanxi People's Republic of China politicians from Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shaanxi Members of the 13th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 12th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Directors of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party