Hu Yaobang (1915-89), a native of Liuyang, Hunan Province, served as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of its Propaganda Department after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee held in December 1978. He was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and General Secretary of the Central Committee at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in February 1980, and was elected Chairman of the Central Committee at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in June 1981.