China's former Vice Premier Liu Yandong has died, Xinhua says
Vice Premier of China, Liu Yandong delivers a speech during a ceremony with the French Minister for Sports on Jun 29, 2016, in Chamonix Mont-Blanc. (Photo: AFP/Jean-Pierre Clatot)
BEIJING: Liu Yandong, China's former vice premier and a former member of the elite Politburo, died in Beijing on Wednesday, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Liu, who was 80 when she died,was widely regarded as the most prominent and highest-ranking female official in China during much of her tenure in the country's male-dominated political leadership.
She was one of only a handful of women ever to serve as a full member of the Politburo since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The current 21 members of the Politburo are all men.
Source: Reuters/ec
