Hu Jintao denounced during the Cultural Revolution, an event that (together with his relatively humble origins) apparently had a deep effect upon Hu, who diligently tried to clear his father's name. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 1964 and began to work as an engineer in July 1965 after he graduated from the Water Conservancy Engineering Department at Tsinghua University, where he majored in the study of hub hydropower stations. During his time at Tsinghua, he met his wife Liu Yongqing. In 1968, Hu volunteered for his service in Gansu and worked on the construction of Liujiaxia Hydroelectric
Hu Jintao but it was clear that Hu's actions in Lhasa earned him unprecedented attention in the upper echelons of party power, including by "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping. When tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, Hu was one of the first regional leaders to publicly declare his support for the central authorities. Hu experienced high-altitude sickness in June 1990, and returned to Beijing, but remained in his position for another two years, during which Hu achieved little. But his departure to Beijing was seen as a merely means to return to the centerfold of Chinese politics, which led to some doubts as to