BEIJING, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Liu Yandong, China's former vice premier and a former member of the elite Politburo, died in Beijing on Wednesday, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Liu, who was 80 when she died, was widely regarded as the most prominent and highest-ranking female official in China during much of her tenure in the country's male-dominated political leadership.
She was one of only a handful of women ever to serve as a full member of the Politburo since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949. The current 21 members of the Politburo are all men.
(Reporting by Beijing NewsroomEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Andrew Heavens)
