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The official Xinhua News Agency announced on Wednesday (October 28) that Liu Yandong, former Vice Premier of the State Council of China, died in Beijing due to illness at the age of 81.
A report by Xinhua News Agency called him "an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China, a proven and loyal communist fighter, and an outstanding leader in our party's united front work and our country's education, science and technology, medical and health, and women and children's work."
Liu Yandong served as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2017. He was appointed State Councilor in 2008 and was promoted to Vice Premier of the State Council in 2013. He retired in 2018. She is the second female Politburo member after the reform and opening up, and the fourth female deputy prime minister after the founding of the Communist Party of China (the previous three were Wu Guixian, Chen Muhua, and Wu Yi).
Among the top leaders of the CCP, Liu Yandong is one of the few leaders who has a background of a revolutionary cadre family, the Communist Youth League, and the United Front system. "Second Generation Red" and "Tuan Pai" are the two most distinctive labels in her career, and she also has a deep connection with Hong Kong.
Her death also reminded the outside world of a phenomenon: from Wu Yi, Liu Yandong to Sun Chunlan, the Politburo of the Communist Party of China had at least one female member for 20 consecutive years. Until the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was interrupted in 2022, there were no more female Politburo members.
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"Second Generation Red": The relationship with Jiang Zemin's father's generation
Liu Yandong's first label was "Red Second Generation".
She was born in November 1945 and is originally from Nantong, Jiangsu. His father, Liu Ruilong, was an early revolutionary cadre of the Communist Party of China. He participated in the creation of the 14th Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (the 14th Red Army). He later served as the logistics commander and political commissar of the Third Field Army of the People's Liberation Army and was deeply involved in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
After the founding of the Communist Party of China, Liu Ruilong served as executive deputy minister of the Ministry of Agriculture. During the Cultural Revolution, he was persecuted and imprisoned for five years. After the Cultural Revolution, he returned to work in the Ministry of Agriculture.
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This family background caused Liu Yandong to be classified by the outside world as the "Second Generation Red" composed of descendants of revolutionary cadres. However, Liu Ruilong's highest position during his lifetime was deputy ministerial level, which was not among the "party and state leaders".
In addition, Jiang Shangqing, the adoptive father of the late General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Jiang Zemin, also has a deep connection with the Liu family. Official information records that Jiang Shangqing was admitted to the high school of Nantong Middle School in 1927. "Influenced by the revolutionary ideas of Liu Ruilong and Gu Minyuan," he joined the Communist Youth League that year. He then went to Shanghai to study and joined the Communist Party in 1929.
"Youth League": From Secretary of the League Central Committee to Vice Premier of the State Council
Liu Yandong's second label is "Tuanpai".
In 1964, Liu Yandong entered the Department of Engineering Chemistry of Tsinghua University to study. After graduation, he worked in chemical plants in Tangshan, Hebei and Beijing, gradually entering the leadership of the factory party committee from a worker and technician.
In 1980, she was transferred to the Organization Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and later served as deputy secretary of the Chaoyang District Committee. Also promoted to deputy secretary of the Beijing District Committee during the same period were Chen Yuan, son of CCP veteran Chen Yun, and Chen Haosu, son of Chen Yi.
In 1982, Liu Yandong entered the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (Central Committee of the Communist Youth League) and served successively as Secretary of the Secretariat, Standing Secretary, and Vice Chairman and Chairman of the All-China Youth Federation. He worked in this system until 1991.
This experience has led to her being often classified by the outside world as the "Tuanpai" - this is not the official name of the CCP organization, but a term used by the outside world to describe a group of officials with experience in the Communist Youth League, especially those who have working connections with Hu Jintao. Li Keqiang, Hu Chunhua and others are representative figures. After the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, as Xi Jinping began his third term as General Secretary of the Central Committee, the "Tuanpai" completely withdrew from the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and was in decline.
In 1991, when Jiang Zemin was in power, Liu Yandong left the Communist Youth League and became deputy director of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After 2002, he was promoted to director of the United Front Work Department.
At the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007, Liu Yandong joined the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, becoming the second female member of the Politburo after the reform and opening up, the first being Wu Yi. At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, she was re-elected as a member of the Politburo, becoming the second woman in the history of the Communist Party of China to be re-elected as a member of the Politburo after Zhou Enlai's widow Deng Yingchao.
During the "Two Sessions" in 2013, Liu Yandong became Vice Premier of the State Council. In 2015, she also served as the leader of the Chinese Football Reform Leading Group - one of the projects that Xi Jinping attaches great importance to.
Close ties with Hong Kong
Liu Yandong’s working relationship with Hong Kong mainly runs through her tenure in the United Front Work Department and the State Council.
At that time, when relations between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the central government were harmonious, Liu Yandong visited Hong Kong many times. In May 2004, she visited Hong Kong to attend events related to the arrival of the Buddha's finger relics from Famen Temple, and met with pro-establishment figures from all walks of life in Hong Kong. In December 2009, she attended the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong East Asian Games and attended events at the University of Hong Kong.
In addition, Liu Yandong’s daughter Yang Fan has been working in Hong Kong for a long time.
Bloomberg has reported that Yang Fan served as CEO of China Merchants Securities International from 2015 to 2020. Since 2020, he has served as chairman of UBS Asia’s global banking business and is based in Hong Kong. He is one of the many well-known business development professionals hired by the bank in recent years to expand its business in China. He resigned at the end of 2022 due to personal reasons.
Disruption of female Politburo seats
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The late leader of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong once said that "women hold up half the sky." However, during Mao's era, there were very few female officials. Those who were able to enter the Politburo often relied on their status rather than their abilities, such as Jiang Qing (Mao Zedong's wife), Ye Qun (Lin Biao's wife) and Deng Yingchao (Zhou Enlai's wife).
In 2002, Wu Yi became the first female Politburo member after the reform and opening up. In the next 20 years, Liu Yandong and Sun Chunlan successively joined the Politburo, and the Politburo has always maintained at least one female member.
The career trajectories of the three female committee members are quite similar: they successively served as deputy prime ministers, mainly in charge of education, health, science and technology and other fields. Among them, Wu Yi and Sun Chunlan led the epidemic prevention work during the SARS and COVID-19 pandemic respectively.
Until the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2022, there will be no women on the 24-member Politburo list, and this pattern has come to an abrupt end.
Some people also believe that the lack of women in the game is based on practical considerations. The COVID-19 epidemic and the "tech war" between China and the United States have made the fields of science and technology and health, traditionally in charge of female deputy prime ministers, even more important. Chen Yiqin, who was previously favored, had been working in Guizhou for a long time and lacked qualifications in science and technology and health, and ultimately only served as State Councilor.
After the 20th National Congress, science and technology work was handed over to Vice Prime Minister Ding Xuexiang, who was among the "Seventh Standing Committee". This arrangement itself reflects the importance of related work.
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