Qi Huaiyuan (; 6 January 1930 – 14 January 2022) was a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as director of from 1991 to 1994. Prior to that, he was assistant foreign minister in 1984 and vice foreign minister in 1986 and before that, a spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1983 and 1984. He was a member of the Standing Committee of the 9th

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

. He was an alternate member of the

13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1987 to 1992. It held seven plenary sessions. It was preceded by the 12th Central Committee and succeeded by the 14th Central Committee. It elected the 13th Politburo ...

and a member of the

14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was in session from 1992 to 1997. It held seven plenary sessions. It was preceded by the 13th Central Committee. It was elected by the 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party ...

Biography

Qi was born Xia Xiong in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, on 6 January 1930, while his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

was in

Ezhou Ezhou ( zh, s= ) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Hubei Province, China. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,079,353, of which 695,697 lived in the core Echeng District. The Ezhou - Huanggang built-up (''or metro'') area w ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. In 1947, he entered

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

, majoring in the Department of Mechanics. One year later, he went on to attend North China Renmin University, where he joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) in November. In 1950, he graduated from Harbin Foreign Language School (now Heilongjiang University). He joined the Foreign Service in 1950 and had served primarily in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

in 1969, he was sent to the

May Seventh Cadre Schools May Seventh Cadre Schools () were a system of rural communes throughout mainland China established during the Cultural Revolution to train Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres to follow the mass line, including through the use of manual labor. O ...

to do farm works. He was reinstated in 1971 and worked in the

Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) is one of the major Foreign policy of China, foreign affairs organizations of the People's Republic of China. The organization is officially termed a "people's organ ...

. He was counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in the German Democratic Republic in 1974, and held that office until January 1983. In January 1983, he was chosen as director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in addition to serving as a spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He moved up the ranks to become assistant foreign minister in August 1984 and vice foreign minister in March 1986. In August 1991, he was appointed director of , a post he kept until November 1994. He also served as president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries from May 1994 to October 2000. He retired in January 2004. On 14 January 2022, he died from an illness in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, at the age of 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qi, Huaiyuan 1930 births 2022 deaths Tsinghua University alumni Heilongjiang University alumni Vice-ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shanghai Alternates of the 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the 14th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Members of the Standing Committee of the 9th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in China