Death of first lady recalls cruel history

Despite terrible persecution, Wang Guangmei refused to hold grudge against Mao

Former first lady Wang Guangmei died in Beijing early yesterday morning at the age of 85, say sources close to her family.

The widow of late president Liu Shaoqi , who was head of state between 1959 and 1968 but was purged by Mao Zedong and died in confinement in 1969, Madam Wang was seen as a symbol of beauty, sophistication and intelligence but also a painful memory of the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution.

Born in 1921 into the family of a high-ranking official of the Republic of China, Madam Wang was one of the very few women at that time to receive a sophisticated education. She obtained a masters degree in atomic physics from Fu Jen Catholic University in Beijing in 1943.

A fluent English speaker, Madam Wang worked as an interpreter in the military mediation effort led by US representative George Marshall between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao after the second world war.

She went to the Communist Party's Yanan headquarters in 1946 where she met Liu, who was 23 years her elder, and worked as his secretary for 18 years after she married him in 1948.

It is widely believed Madam Wang's beauty and popularity brought her the wrath of Mao's wife, Jiang Qing , who accused her of being a US spy during the Cultural Revolution.