 Like many Communists of the era who took on revolutionary names, he changed his name to Huá Guófēng as an abbreviation of "" ().After having served in the 8th Route Army during 12 years under General Zhu De's command, he became propaganda chief for the county Party committee in 1947.Hua moved with the PLA to Hunan in 1949, where he married Han Zhijun in January, and remained there as a local official until 1971.