Body of Hu Sheng Cremated in Shanghai

The body of Hu Sheng, an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), renowned Marxist theorist and historian, was cremated November 12 in Shanghai.

Hu, who was also vice-chairman of the seventh and eighth National Committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), died of an illness last on November 5 in Shanghai at the age of 82.

Entrusted by the CPC Central Committee, Vice President Hu Jintao came to Shanghai to bid farewell to Hu Sheng, and to convey to Hu Sheng's family members concern from President Jiang Zemin and other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

When Hu became seriously ill, senior Party and government officials, including Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, Wei Jianxing and Li Lanqing, visited him in hospital, and after his death party officials expressed sympathy and solicitude to his family.

Hu Sheng was born on January 11, 1918 in Suzhou City, in east China's Jiangsu Province, and enrolled in the Philosophy Department of Beijing University in 1934.

He started his revolutionary activities in Shanghai the following year, mainly engaging in cultural activities and campaigns of resistance led by the CPC against the Japanese aggressors.

After the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressors (1937-1945) broke out, he moved to central China and joined the CPC.

From age 17 to 30, Hu wrote a great number of articles for CPC-led and other progressive newspapers and magazines and many of his works totaling more than 1 million Chinese characters were published, having a great impact on ideological and cultural circles as well as young intellectuals.

After new China was founded in 1949, Hu was given responsibility for the Party's theory research and publicity work for a long period. He also wrote a number of major works on China's history and the CPC's history.

Hu served as the President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences from 1985 to 1998, endeavoring to create a good environment for academic research.

Hu was open-minded, modest and lived a simple life. In 1996, he devoted most of his books to a library in Central China's Hubei Province and established a fund to award outstanding young intellectuals.



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