Liu Shaoqi | |
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劉少奇/刘少奇 | |
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President of the People's Republic of China | |
In office 27 April 1959 – 31 October 1968 | |
Premier | Zhou Enlai |
Vice President | Dong Biwu and Soong Ching-ling |
Leader | Mao Zedong (Chairman of the Communist Party of China) |
Preceded by | Mao Zedong |
Succeeded by | Dong Biwu and Soong Ching-ling (acting) |
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
In office September 15, 1954 – April 28, 1959 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Zhu De |
First Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China | |
In office 28 September 1956 – 1 August 1966 | |
Chairman | Mao Zedong |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Lin Biao |
Member of the National People's Congress | |
In office 15 September 1954 – 21 October 1968 | |
Constituency | Beijing At-large |
Personal details | |
Born | Ningxiang, Hunan, Qing Empire | 24 November 1898
Died | 12 November 1969 Kaifeng, Henan, People’s Republic of China | (aged 70)
Nationality | Chinese |
Political party | Communist Party of China (1921-1968) |
Spouse(s) |
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Children | Liu Yunbin Liu Aiqin Liu Yunruo Liu Tao Liu Ding Liu Pingping Liu Yuan Liu Tingting Liu Xiaoxiao |
Liu Shaoqi (pronounced [ljǒu ʂâutɕʰǐ]; traditional Chinese: 劉少奇; simplified Chinese: 刘少奇; 24 November 1898 – 12 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary, politician, and theorist.
He was Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee from 1954 to 1959, First Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1956 to 1966 and Chairman (President) of the People's Republic of China, China's de jure head of state, from 1959 to 1968.
For 15 years, President Liu was the third most powerful man in China, behind only Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. In the early 1960s before the Cultural Revolution, he became a critic of Mao.
Liu disappeared from public life in 1968 and was called the "commander of China's bourgeoisie headquarters", China's foremost "capitalist-roader", and a traitor to the revolution.
Liu died on 12 November 1969 in Kaifeng, Henan while under torture, aged 70. After his death, the Chinese government later honored him with a state funeral and is now seen as a political hero.[1]