Liu Shaoqi

Liu Shaoqi ( ; ; 24 November 189812 November 1969) was a Chinese revolutionary, politician, and theorist. 

He was Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee from 1954 to 1959, First Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1956 to 1966 and Chairman (President) of the People's Republic of China, China's de jure head of state, from 1959 to 1968.

For 15 years, President Liu was the third most powerful man in China, behind only Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. In the early 1960s before the Cultural Revolution, he became a critic of Mao. 

Liu disappeared from public life in 1968 and was called the "commander of China's bourgeoisie headquarters", China's foremost "capitalist-roader", and a traitor to the revolution.

Liu died on 12 November 1969 in Kaifeng, Henan while under torture, aged 70. After his death, the Chinese government later honored him with a state funeral and is now seen as a political hero.

References

Category:Presidents of the People's Republic of China
Category:1898 births
Category:1969 deaths
Category:Unexplained deaths