Suo Zhaoshiya ( zh, 索趙士雅; 1905 – 18 January 1967) was a Chinese politician. She was among the first group of women elected to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

in 1948.

Biography

Originally from

Wenjiang County Wenjiang District () is a List of administrative divisions of Chengdu, suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It covers part of the city's western suburbs. Wenjiang District is bordered by Qingyang, Chengdu, Qingyang District ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Province, Suo was educated at Chengdu Law School. Aged 22 she married Suo Guanyuan, a

Tusi ''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ...

of . Due to the traditional division of labour among the

Gyalrong people The Gyalrong () people, also called ''rgyal rong, jiarong'' ( zh, s=嘉绒人), or Gyelrongwas, live in parts of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China. The word Gyalrong is an ...

, she was responsible for external affairs, while her husband managed internal affairs. When her husband died in 1940, their son Suo Guoguang took over as Tusi. However, as he was only seven years old at the time, Suo performed his duties. In 1946 she became a council member of

Wenchuan County Wenchuan County is a County (People's Republic of China), county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. The county has an area of , and a population of 100,771 as of 2010. Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected ...

Women's Federation. In the same year Suo joined the newly formed Wenchuan County branch of the

Chinese Youth Party The Young China Party (YCP), also known as the Chinese Youth Party (CYP), is a minor political party in Taiwan (Republic of China). It was one of the three legal political parties in Taiwan during the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, t ...

. In the 1948 elections she was elected to the Legislative Yuan from the Sichuan Frontier Ethnic Group constituency.索趙士雅
Legislative Yuan She remained on the mainland following the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

and served as vice chair of Wenchuan County Minority Democratic Consultative Committee from 1950 to 1956. Between 1956 and 1967 she served on the Standing Committee of the Political Consultative Committee of Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.汶川县文史资料选辑 'Selected Works of Wenchuan County Literature and History'' 6th Series, p61 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 ...

Suo was denounced in a

struggle session Struggle sessions (), or denunciation rallies or struggle meetings, were violent public spectacles in Maoist China where people accused of being "Five Black Categories, class enemies" were public humiliation, publicly humiliated, accused, beaten ...

. Already suffering from heart disease, her conditioned worsened when she was publicly paraded. She died in January 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suo, Zhaoshiya 1905 births 20th-century Chinese women politicians Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan 1967 deaths