He Luli (; 7 June 1934 – 19 March 2022) was a Chinese politician and paediatrician. She entered politics after practicing medicine for 27 years, serving as Vice-Mayor of Beijing, Chairwoman of the

Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), also commonly known, especially when referenced historically, as the Left Kuomintang or Left Guomindang, is one of the eight legally recognised minor political parties in the Peo ...

Vice Chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Vice Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) () is a political office in the People's Republic of China. The official responsibility of the vice chairpersons is to assist the C ...

, and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. He Luli was the daughter of He Siyuan, the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...

mayor of Beijing who negotiated the peaceful surrender of the city to the

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

near the end of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

Early life

He Luli was born on 7 June 1934, in

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Her father He Siyuan was the French-educated education minister of Shandong Province, and her mother was a Frenchwoman who adopted the Chinese name He Yiwen (). He Luli had two older brothers and a younger sister. After Japan invaded China in 1937, He Siyuan led a guerrilla operation in Shandong to fight the enemy. He sent his wife and four children to live in the British concession in Tianjin. After the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

broke out in December 1941, Japan occupied the British concession and Yiwen moved the family home to Tianjin's Italian concession. On 31 December, the Italian authorities arrested Yiwen and the children and handed them to the Japanese, who held them as hostages and demanded He Siyuan's surrender. He rejected the demand, condemned Japan and Italy's breach of international law through diplomatic channels, and held Italian missionaries in China as a bargaining chip. Japan eventually relented and released the family. After the end of World War II, He Siyuan served as Mayor of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

(then known as Beiping). During the ensuing

, he negotiated with the Communists for the peaceful surrender of Beiping. To prevent the surrender,

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

sent agents to assassinate him. In the early morning of 18 January 1949, two bombs exploded in the He residence, killing Luli's 12-year-old sister Lumei () and gravely injuring her mother. The rest of the family were also wounded. The Juntong agent who planted the bombs, Colonel Duan Yunpeng, was captured in 1954 and executed in 1967.

Career

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, He Luli studied medicine at

Beijing Medical University } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

(now Peking University Health Science Center) from 1952 to 1957. Starting in 1957, she worked as a doctor for 27 years at Beijing Children's Hospital, Xicheng District Children's Hospital, and Beijing No. 2 Hospital. He Luli entered politics in 1984, when she was appointed Deputy Mayor of

Xicheng District Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitants (2000 Census). Its postal ...

of Beijing. She joined the

(RCCK) in April 1986. She was promoted to Deputy Mayor of Beijing in 1988, and served in that position until 1996. She also concurrently served as President of the Beijing Red Cross Society. In 1993 she was elected Vice President of the All-China Women's Federation. In 1996 she was elected Chairwoman of the RCCK, replacing Li Peiyao, who had been murdered. She was reelected twice in 1997 and 2002, serving until 2007. She also became

(CPPCC) in March 1996. In March 1998, she was elected Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. She was reelected in March 2003, serving until 2008. In addition, she was a member of the Hong Kong SAR Preparatory Committee in 1997 and the Macao SAR Preparatory Committee in 1999. In 1999 she became President of the Central Socialist Academy and Honorary Vice-President of the Red Cross Society of China. In that year she also won a

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

award for her contributions to the

anti-smoking Tobacco control is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes. Since most cigarettes and cigars and hookahs contain/use to ...

movement in China.

Personal life

He Luli married fellow physician Rong Guohuang () in 1958; they had two sons. Rong died in 1989. He Luli died on 19 March 2022, at the age of 87.何鲁丽同志逝世

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:He, Luli 1934 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Chinese physicians 20th-century women physicians Members of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang People's Republic of China politicians from Shandong Politicians from Jinan Deputy mayors of Beijing Vice Chairpersons of the National People's Congress Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chinese paediatricians Chinese women physicians Peking University alumni Chinese people of French descent Physicians from Shandong All-China Women's Federation people Officiers of the Légion d'honneur