Wu Guixian (; born 1938) is a Chinese politician who served as China's first female vice premier from January 1975 to September 1977. Originally a worker at a state-owned cotton factory in

Xianyang Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

, she was appointed by party leader

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

after becoming the factory's deputy director and a member of the

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

Early life and career

Wu was born in

Gongyi Gongyi (), formerly Gong County (), is a county-level city of Henan Province, South Central China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou. It has a population of 790,000 people and an area of . City Gongyi is lo ...

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

to a large peasant family of farmers consisting of nine siblings. In the wake of the

Chinese famine of 1942–43 Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

the family fled to

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

where her father found temporary work. To earn the family more money Wu joined a cotton factory recruitment program in 1951 at the age of 13.

Child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

laws at the time mandated recruits be at least 16 however Wu lied about her age and began work at a state-owned textile factory in the city. A few years later in 1955 she joined the

Chinese Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...

and soon after the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

at the age of 20. Eventually she was promoted to deputy director of the Northwest China cotton factory and party leaders arranged for her to study at Northwest University where she graduated in 1968.

Political career

In 1969 Wu attended the 9th National Congress and was elected a member of

serving as deputy secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee. Around this time party leader

Chairman Mao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC ...

planned to promote grassroots officials to help run state affairs following the damage caused to the party during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. Wu was elected to serve as Chinese vice premier in 1975, becoming the first woman to hold its office. In 1977 Wu resigned from office and returned to Shaanxi to serve as deputy secretary of the Party committee of Northwest China Cotton Factory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Guixian 1938 births Politicians from Xianyang People's Republic of China politicians from Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shaanxi Chinese women in politics Living people Deputy Communist Party secretaries of Shaanxi