Liu Yandong, a former Chinese vice premier and one of the country's most prominent female politicians, died on Oct. 28 at the age of 81. She is survived by her husband, whose name was not disclosed, and a daughter.

		0
Former Vice Premier Liu Yandong accompanies former South Korean President Park Geun-hye during her visit to China in late June 2013. The photo shows Park delivering a lecture at Tsinghua University. / CCTV website

According to a report by state-run China Central Television (CCTV) on Oct. 28, Liu died of a long-standing illness at a hospital in Beijing at 2:53 p.m. that day. Chinese authorities praised Liu as "an excellent member of the Communist Party of China and a time-tested, loyal communist fighter," as well as "an outstanding leader in the Party's united front work and China's education, science and technology, health care, and women and children's affairs."

According to Beijing sources familiar with China's political leadership, Liu was born in 1945 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, as the second daughter of Liu Ruilong, a veteran military figure and former executive vice minister of agriculture. She was a member of the so-called princelings, the children of senior officials in the Communist Party, government and military. However, even her privileged family background could not shield her from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966. In her early 20s, she left Tsinghua University, where she had been studying, and became a sent-down youth.

Despite the Cultural Revolution, Liu built a remarkably successful career as a sent-down youth, advancing through positions at chemical factories in Tangshan, Hebei Province, and Beijing. This experience helped her secure a position in the Organization Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee in 1980, after the Cultural Revolution ended. Similarly, she moved to the Communist Youth League in 1982, serving as a secretary and executive secretary of its Central Committee Secretariat until 1991.

Liu later served as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China's 17th and 18th Central Committees. She also held positions as vice chairperson of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), state councilor and vice premier of the State Council. She was one of the most prominent female politicians to serve in the highest ranks of China's party and government leadership. Her main areas of responsibility included education, science and technology, and health policy.

Liu was also known for playing a major role in high-level diplomacy with the United States and South Korea. In June 2015, for example, she visited the White House as a special representative of Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping and met with then-U.S. President Barack Obama. She also attended Park Geun-hye's presidential inauguration in 2013 and the closing ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as a special representative of China.

Liu also met with former South Korean Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Moon Jae-in. For this reason, she was regarded as one of the few Chinese politicians to have personally met all of South Korea's former presidents who held office during her tenure. She was also recognized for making significant contributions to improving South Korea-China relations through discussions on expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges and addressing developments on the Korean Peninsula.

                                                                                                            Hong Soon-do