Chinese Communist Party elder Song Ping dies aged 109

March 4, 2026 7:46 AM EST

BEIJING, March ‌4 - Chinese ​Communist ​Party elder and the longest-lived member of the elite ‌Politburo Standing Committee, Song Ping, ⁠died on Wednesday at the age of ‌109, the official ‌Xinhua news agency reported.

Song died in Beijing due to illness, according ​to Xinhua.

Born in 1917, Song was at the core of ⁠the communist party's second generation of leadership, an ​era when reform-minded Deng Xiaoping remade China after the 27-year rule ​of Mao Zedong.

Song ‌was credited with bringing Hu Jintao, China's leader before ⁠current President Xi Jinping, to the attention of Deng.

Song was in the ⁠Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of power ​in China's political system, from 1989-1992.

Earlier, he had worked in key party and ‌government posts.

He had worked as a personal secretary of ‌Zhou Enlai, who served as ⁠communist China's first ‌premier from ​1949 until his death in 1976.

(Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Aidan ‌Lewis)



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