Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
In January 1987, "Hard-liners oust liberal Party chief Hu Yuobang. . . . Death of Hu Yaobang triggers student demonstrations. . . . Hu Yaobang (1915-1989): A second-generation party leader and pre-Cultural Revolution head of the CCP Youth League. A liberal who actively supported Deng Xiaoping's reforms, Hu was tabbed to succeed Hua Guofeng as party chief in 1982. Hu was later forced out by hard-liners in 1987, and his sudden death in April 1989 triggered the Tiananmen student protests." [Fall and Rise of China Guidebook, p. 181, 204]