Han Zhijun

Han Zhijun (born 21 February 1930) is a Chinese Communist Party cadre and widow of Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Premier of China. She has been described as "China's most mysterious first lady", as she rarely appeared with her husband in public.

Biography Han was born in 1930 to a peasant household in a small village in Wutai County. Her father participated in training drills organized by the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and reportedly returned home to teach his daughter revolutionary songs. In 1948, Han was a cadre in a provincial organization. She married Hua Guofeng in November that year. In August 1949, she went with Hua when he became party secretary of Xiangyin County. Their eldest child, Su Hua, was born in early 1950. The family moved to Beijing in 1951, after Hua was transferred to the State Council.

As first lady Han never accompanied Chairman Hua on business trips abroad and the two rarely appeared in public together. Reportedly, Han continued to cycle to and from work. She served as director of the cadre department of the import-export company of the Ministry of Light Industry from 1975. In 1978, she participated in the 4th executive committee of the All-China Women's Federation. Since Hua's death, Han has made public appearances at his memorial services, and the 2013 and 2014 Spring Festival celebrations, where she was publicly greeted by Xi Jinping and Zhang Dejiang, respectively.