Hu Yaquan, 75, a member of the Communist Party of China, is the former executive vice-president of Readers Magazine Agency of Duzhe Publishing Group Co Ltd.
Hu and Zheng Yuanxu co-founded the Readers Digest magazine (renamed Readers in 1993) in March 1981. During the early years of the magazine, Hu, a Han Chinese, played a leading role in clarifying the tenet, orientation, style, characteristics and editorial policy of Readers, and succeeded in increasing the magazine's circulation from 30,000 to 1.57 million in the first four years.
In 1994, Hu acted as the executive associate editor-in-chief of Readers Magazine Agency. He worked with Peng Changcheng to lead the re-structuring and planning of Readers magazine's development path, strengthened the presence of Readers brand, and organized the logo soliciting campaign to finalize the logo of the magazine.
With the Hope Project as a starting point, Hu led the magazine to launch large-scale advertising and marketing campaigns, and planned, organized or took part in public welfare events to commit Readers Magazine Agency to social responsibility, including donation of books to outstanding national teachers and the donation activity series themed "Protect the Mother River" for a greener world.
In April 2001, Hu founded the Reader's Taste magazine and served as the editor-in-chief. The magazine focuses on visual elements to cater to readers seeking more visually appealing publications. While colorful images and trendy cover designs have given it a new look, the magazine itself remains rooted to the Readers’ original vision of humanity. The design and outlook have been praised by both insiders and readers.
Hu has a passion for the publication cause of the Party. During his 50-plus years of work, Hu has devoted all his energy to the Readers magazine that he loves. As an entrepreneur, witness and practitioner of China's reform and opening-up, Hu has made significant contributions to the prosperity and development of journals, publications and cultural undertakings in Gansu since the reform and opening-up.
