Liu Yandong, a former vice premier of China and one of the highest-ranking women in the country’s political leadership, died in Beijing on Wednesday. She was 80.
Liu rose to the upper tiers of the Chinese Communist Party at a time when women were rarely present in the country’s top decision-making bodies. Her career placed her among a very small group of women to hold senior national office in the Chinese system, where power has long been concentrated in a male-dominated elite.
Her death marks the loss of one of the most prominent female figures in China’s post-reform political establishment. The source material available for this report confirms the fact of her death, her former rank and the place where she died, and this publication will update the story with further official details, including any statement from the Chinese government, as they are confirmed.
For readers in Dominica and across the Caribbean diaspora, the report is a reminder of how rare women have been in the highest ranks of national government worldwide, and how significant it is when a woman reaches the top of a political system.
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