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| Chinese Vice-Premier Huang dies | Chinese Vice-Premier Huang dies |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Chinese Vice-Premier Huang Ju, one of the most senior leaders in China, has died aged 68 in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. | Chinese Vice-Premier Huang Ju, one of the most senior leaders in China, has died aged 68 in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency has reported. |
| Huang was in charge of financial and economic policymaking in the Politburo, China's highest decision-making body. | Huang was in charge of financial and economic policymaking in the Politburo, China's highest decision-making body. |
| He had not attended official functions since March 2006, when it was announced he was ill, reportedly with cancer. | He had not attended official functions since March 2006, when it was announced he was ill, reportedly with cancer. |
| An official obituary described him as a "long-tested and faithful Communist fighter" and an "outstanding leader". | An official obituary described him as a "long-tested and faithful Communist fighter" and an "outstanding leader". |
| Huang was one of the closest allies of the former Communist Party of China (CCP) leader, Jiang Zemin, and formed part of Mr Jiang's so-called "Shanghai Gang" - the top leaders who emerged from China's financial capital to help him run the country. | |
| When Jiang Zemin stepped down and was succeeded by President Hu Jintao, Huang remained in place, a powerful voice to lobby for the promotion of the former president's supporters. | When Jiang Zemin stepped down and was succeeded by President Hu Jintao, Huang remained in place, a powerful voice to lobby for the promotion of the former president's supporters. |
| Correspondents say Huang's death will give Mr Hu an opportunity to further consolidate his power base at the upcoming 17th CCP Congress, a five-yearly meeting during which key personnel changes are made. | |
| Illness | |
| Born in September 1938 in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, Huang studied Engineering at the prestigious Qinghua University before becoming a technician at the Shanghai Artificial Board-Making Machinery Plant in 1966. | |
| How China is ruled | |
| After taking on a series of increasingly important positions within state enterprises and the CCP in Shanghai, he became mayor of the city in 1991. | |
| From 1995 until 2002, Huang served both as chief of the CCP in Shanghai and a member of the political bureau (Politburo) of the CCP central committee, the nexus of all power in China. | |
| In 2002, Huang was promoted to the Politburo's nine-member standing committee, which works as a kind of inner cabinet and groups together the country's most influential leaders. | |
| Huang's final appointment came in March 2003, when he became one of the State Council's four vice-premiers. His main responsibility was to formulate China's financial and economic policies. | |
| The vice-premier's last public appearance was at China's parliament, the National People's Congress, in March 2006, when he urged delegates from Shanghai to support President Hu's anti-corruption drive. | |
| The crackdown has led to Huang's successor as CCP chief in Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, being sacked for corruption. | |
| Shortly afterwards, the state announced he was ill and would not attend all official functions. | |
| One Hong Kong newspaper reported he was receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer, but the Chinese government refused to comment. | |
| After announcing his death due to "illness" on Saturday, the authorities said Huang had been "an excellent member of the CCP, a long-tested and faithful communist fighter and an outstanding leader of the party and the state". |