Liu Yandong

Liu Yandong (Chinese: 刘延东; born November 1945) is a Chinese politician. She is currently serving as Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China, and is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China. She previously held the post of State Councilor between 2007 and 2012, and headed the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party between 2002 and 2007.

A graduate of Tsinghua University, Liu's career has long been associated with her fellow alumnus and Communist Youth League colleague Hu Jintao. As such Chinese-language media has sometimes labelled Liu as part of the so-called "Tuanpai", or "Youth League clique". Since the retirement of Wu Yi, Liu has been the highest-ranked female political figure in China, and one of only two women with a seat on the Politburo, the other being Sun Chunlan.

Biography

Early career

Liu Yandong was born in Nantong County, Jiangsu, in what was then Republic of China. Her father Liu Ruilong was one of the founders of the 14th Army of the Reds, an early Communist revolutionary militia force. As her father was of a revolutionary background, she has been classified by some analysts as a princeling. Liu entered the prestigious Tsinghua University in 1964, weathered the Cultural Revolution, and graduated in 1970 with a degree in chemistry. While in college, Liu was a part-time political instructor.

Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China

The Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国国务院副总理; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國國務院副總理; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guówùyuàn Fùzǒnglǐ) is a high-ranking executive assistant to the Premier. Generally, the title is held by multiple individuals at one time, with each Vice Premier holding a broad portfolio of responsibilities. The highest-ranked office holder is informally called the First-ranked Vice Premier (Senior Vice Premier). The 1st-ranked VP takes over duties of the Premier at the time of the latter's incapacity.

Current Vice Premiers, in order of rank, are Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yandong, Wang Yang and Ma Kai.

In irregular instances, the position of a Senior Vice Premier (第一副总理) has been named either to indicate degree of power, nominal power, or when the Premier is incapacitated and requires a full-time assistant to carry out his regular duties. The most prominent case of this is Deng Xiaoping between 1978 and 1980.

Vice

Vice is a practice, behavior, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit (such as an addiction to smoking). Vices are usually associated with a transgression in a person's character or temperament rather than their morality. Synonyms for vice include fault, sin, depravity, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption.

The opposite of vice is virtue.

Etymology

The modern English term that best captures its original meaning is the word vicious, which means "full of vice". In this sense, the word vice comes from the Latin word vitium, meaning "failing or defect".

(This meaning is completely separate from the word vice when used as an official title to indicate a deputy, substitute or subordinate, as in vice president, vice-chancellor or viceroy. The etymology of this usage derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of".)

Premier

Premier is a title for the head of government in some countries, states and sub-national governments. A second in command to a premier is designated as a vice-premier or deputy premier.

Examples by country

In many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister".

In the People's Republic of China, "premier" is more common and official, but "prime minister" is still used (see Premier of the People's Republic of China).

In four of the British overseas territories (Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands), the elected heads of government are styled as "Premier". In other overseas territories the equivalent post is styled as Chief Minister.

"Premier" is also the title of the heads of government in sub-national entities, such as the provinces and territories of Canada, states of the Commonwealth of Australia, provinces of South Africa, the island of Nevis within the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the nation of Niue. In some of these cases, the formal title remains "Prime Minister" but "Premier" is used to avoid confusion with the national leader. In these cases, care should be taken not to confuse the title of "premier" with "prime minister". In these countries, terms such as "Federal Premier", "National Premier", or "Premier of the Dominion" were sometimes used to refer to prime ministers, although these are now obsolete. The French language does not differentiate between premier and prime minister and therefore federal prime ministers and provincial, state or colonial premiers are all called premier ministres.

State councilor

The state councillor (Chinese: 国务委员; pinyin: guówù wěiyuán) is a powerful position within the State Council of the People's Republic of China, i.e. the executive organ of China's central government (comparable to a cabinet). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the Ministers of various departments. The position was created during the May 1982 restructuring of the State Council, when eleven state councillors were appointed, ten of whom were vice premiers until then.

Role

In theory, state councilors are to assist the Premier and Vice-Premiers to oversee various government portfolios. They can also represent the State Council (and in turn, China's government) on foreign visits. state councilors are part of a Standing Committee of the State Council, alongside the Premier, Vice-Premiers, and the Secretary General of the State Council. The organ holds weekly meetings. In practice, a state councilor's portfolios can be very wide-ranging. State councilors often accompany China's higher dignitaries on trips abroad - as was the case with State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan from 2003–08, and Dai Bingguo from 2008–present. Dai also became China's representative at the 2009 G8 Summit in Italy when President Hu Jintao decided to cut short his attendance to return to China in order to deal with the July 2009 Urumqi riots.