Former Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong Dies, Family Connections to Jiang Family Highlighted

Dark clouds loom over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

[People News]  Around 6 PM Beijing time today (October 28), several Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media outlets reported that Liu Yandong, a former member of the Politburo and Vice Premier, passed away at 2:53 PM due to illness, at the age of 81.

Hong Kong media reports indicate that Liu Yandong had been in declining health in recent years, missing several meetings she could have attended. However, the CCP did not specify the nature of her illness, the duration of her sickness, or her treatment status when announcing her death.

Public records reveal that Liu Yandong was born in 1945 in Huai'an, Jiangsu. She held several significant positions, including Vice Chairperson of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the 17th Central Politburo, State Councillor in the 11th term, member of the 18th Central Politburo, and Vice Premier of the 12th State Council. Liu was the second woman to serve consecutive terms on the Politburo after Deng Yingchao and the fourth woman to hold the position of Vice Premier in the history of the State Council. Her father, Liu Ruilong, was a former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and reportedly had close ties with the family of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin.

Jiang Shangqing, who was referred to as Jiang Zemin's adoptive father and later called himself Jiang Zemin's 'real father' to strengthen connections, enrolled in Nantong High School in 1927. Influenced by Liu Ruilong's revolutionary ideology, he was introduced to the Communist Youth League by Liu Ruilong. Some media reports suggest that Liu Ruilong played a role in Jiang Zemin's later rise to prominence as a 'revolutionary martyr.'

Before the Cultural Revolution, Liu Ruilong served as the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and had extensive connections in Shanghai. Jiang Zemin later became the Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, likely benefiting from Liu Ruilong's influence.

During the Cultural Revolution, Liu Yandong's father was overthrown, prompting her to distance herself from him.

Liu Yandong graduated in the 1980s and spent many years working in the Communist Youth League, where she held positions such as member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Executive Secretary, and Vice Chairman and Chairman of the National Youth Federation of the Communist Party of China. She worked alongside Hu Jintao, who was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the First Secretary, for two to three years, serving as his assistant.

In Hu Jintao's era, former Shanghai Municipal Party Secretary Chen Liangyu was dismissed. Both Reuters and The Times reported that 'insiders' indicated Hu Jintao preferred his former Youth League colleague Liu Yandong for the position of Shanghai Municipal Party Secretary. However, there were reports from Shanghai suggesting that she was 'not welcomed', with external observers accusing 'someone of being ungrateful'.

Liu Yandong became Vice Premier of the State Council in 2013 and retired in 2018.
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